The Ministry of Commerce News Office said yesterday that minister Bo Xilai made a three-point proposal for the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ministerial meeting in Paris last Wednesday.

He said there should be significant progress on the DDA, noting that 85 percent of WTO members were developing countries.

Whether they benefit from the Doha negotiations "is a crucial criterion of its success," said Bo whilst calling for differential policies to be reserved for developing members.

Free trade should be an important objective, Bo said, but as developed countries are the biggest beneficiaries of liberalization they should be treated as advanced players in realizing it.

He added that China, despite having tens of millions living in poverty according to UN standards, is willing to make efforts to push forward the realization of this major objective.

Bo also said that the results of negotiations should be observed and that they would be meaningless if they were not.

He said some developed countries had preserved a 70 percent import quota on textile products until the end of last year but now blamed China for a sudden surge in Chinese imports.

Protectionism can only undermine WTO rules and impact negatively upon ongoing negotiations, said Bo.

Of specific issues involved in the Doha talks, Bo said agriculture is key and that progress on it will decide the success of the negotiations.

The service sector and market admittance for non-agricultural products should also be further promoted for the final achievement of a "package agreement," he added.

Bo expressed hope that major trading partners would maintain stability of the multilateral trade system, abandon protectionist actions, resolve multilateral and bilateral trade disputes through consultation and make concerted efforts to achieve major progress for the DDA this December.

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2005)