PRESS RELEASE
PRESS/241
10 September 2001
(01-4255)
MOORE URGES COMPLETION OF WORK ON
CHINA AND CHINESE TAIPEI ACCESSIONS
GENEVA – Director-General Mike Moore today urged WTO member governments involved in
Working Parties on the accession of China and Chinese Taipei  to resolve this week all outstanding
issues on the accessions so that both can join the organization at the earliest possible date.
Formal working parties to be held for China (13 September) and Chinese Taipei (14 September) are
expected to complete remaining work on the two accessions and recommend approval of the two bids
to Ministers meeting at the 4th Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar in November. Should Ministers
at Doha approve the recommendations, as they are expected to do, China and Chinese Taipei would
begin domestic ratification procedures for the accession. Following ratification, the Director-General's
office is notified that those procedures have been completed and 30 days after this notification, Chinaand Chinese Taipei would become members of the organization.
"We are very, very close to an historic moment," Mr. Moore said. "Bringing China and Chinese
Taipei into the WTO means making this organization closer to being a truly World  Trade
Organization. China and Chinese Taipei are the world's fifth and ninth largest traders respectively.Their membership in the rules-based multilateral trading system will bring greater stability and
certainty to the global economy at time when such stability is sorely needed. These accessions also
offer the opportunity to use our system of rules and dispute settlement as an instrument of peace
between peoples. I urge all parties to make every effort to bring resolution to these two accession
bids."
END