China's revised bid to join GPA clearly better

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2012-01-18

BEIJING - China's latest revised submission on joining the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) is "clearly better" than the previous one, an EU commissioner told reporters on Wednesday.

Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services made the remarks at a press conference in Beijing.

He declined to elaborate on the details of the offer, but said there were still many stages to complete before reaching a final agreement.

"Things have to be done gradually and I am confident that we'll see progress from China," he said.

The GPA, a voluntary pact within the World Trade Organization, allows member countries to bid for public contracts in each other's markets.

China tabled its first offer to join the pact in 2007, but it was turned down as the offer did not include local governments' spending.

In its latest offer, China agreed to open procurements in five regions, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

In December last year, China's Minister of Commerce Chen Deming reiterated China's willingness and efforts to join the GPA, saying China has made substantial improvements to its offers.

He said China will continue constructive negotiations on the issue despite the fact that some member countries had failed to consider China's current situations and constantly lifted the entry threshold.