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China 'ready' to become WTO member: Minister

China, the world's seventh biggest trading power, is ready to enter the World Trade Organisation and face the challenges and opportunities the move brings, a senior official has said.

"China will be capable of seizing opportunities and handling challenges arising from its entry into the WTO," Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng was quoted by the Chinese newspaper People's Daily ' said.

Shi, head of the Chinese delegation attending the fourth session of the WTO ministerial meeting which opened in Doha on Friday, said that China's accession to the WTO will become a reality at the meeting.

In the course of its 15-year negotiations, China has made pledges in three areas - creating a more convenient trade environment, including lowering customs duty and cutting customs barriers; giving market access especially in such service trade areas as telecommunications, finance, insurance and tourism, which all have timetables of opening; and creating a stable and equal investment environment, he said.

Commenting on China's WTO accession and its impact, country's chief trade negotiator Long Yongtu said the end of the negotiation on WTO accession does not mean the end of China's reform and opening up process, but rather its beginning.

The yardstick for judging advantages and disadvantages should be the need to see whether it can effectively safeguard China's economic sovereignty and economic benefit, Yongtu said.

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