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December 2005 marked the 4th anniversary of China's entry to the
World Trade Organization (WTO). In those four years, the Chinese
government fulfilled all its undertakings, drastically reducing
import tariffs, canceling non-tariff measures, and perfecting its
law system, all the while carrying out functional transformation of
the government and enhancing policy transparency. China has
smoothly passed two WTO transitional trade policy reviews and
received wide approval from the international community. During the
WTO Mini-Ministerial Meeting in Dalian in July 2005, progress was
finally gained in identifying the topics for Doha Round
negotiations and 35 ministers from 31 member countries all
reaffirmed that the Doha Development Agenda should be completed by
the end of 2006. This has been the first time for China to hold
such meeting, showing that China is actively participating in
formulating international trade regulations. In December, more than
5,800 representatives of 149 WTO member countries and over 2,000 of
non-governmental organizations attended the 6th WTO Ministerial
Meeting in Hong Kong, China. With concerted efforts of China's
central government, the government of Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, and other WTO members, the meeting achieved
positive results, setting deadlines for canceling export subsidies
for agricultural products, and reaching an agreement on exemption
of the least developed countries from tariffs and quota limits. In
addition, developed countries agreed to eliminate export subsidy
for cotton in 2006.