Global General

Germany to help China gain market status from EU

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-10-06 07:58

Premier Wen Jiabao shakes hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) as they meet for talks at the government guest house Schloss Meseberg, some 70 km (44 miles) north of Berlin, Oct 5, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]

BERLIN - Germany will work to get the European Union to recognise China as a market economy by 2016, giving the country benefits under international trade rules, according to a joint communique issued after leaders of the countries met on Tuesday.

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China has urged the EU to recognise it as a market economy, a status that would make it less vulnerable to anti-dumping charges under rules of the World Trade Organization.

Premier Wen Jiabao met Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Meseberg Palace north of Berlin after an EU-Asia summit in Brussels.

The statement issued in Berlin added that China had agreed to hold talks with the EU on the issue.

Both governments also said they want the UN climate talks in Cancun, Mexico later this year to agree steps to fight climate change.