China concerned with Turkish restrictions on textiles

"All WTO members shoulder responsibility to safeguard the elimination of quotas in the textile trade, which is the fruit of years of talks," said Bo Xilai, Chinese minister of commerce.

Bo told Abdullah Gul, Turkish deputy prime minister and foreign minister, that China is willing to enhance cooperation with developing countries, including Turkey, in textile industry to reach common development.

Turkey initiated special safeguard measures on Dec. 23, 2004 to limit imports of 42 kinds Chinese textiles, saying they disturbed the market, one week before textile trade quotas were eliminated worldwide by World Trade Organization agreements.

However, Gul said Turkey which also enjoys a strong growth of textile industry, has "no hostility" against China on the issue and that he was "very optimistic" to solve the problem soon through talks.

"Trade problems between Turkey and China can be settled by stepping up bilateral economic and trade cooperation," Gul said, noting that the two countries can jointly seek business opportunities in tourism and reconstruction projects in Iraq.

"The Chinese government also encourages Chinese enterprises to invest in Turkey and further increase cooperation with their Turkish partners in labor service, contract project and tourism," Bo said.

Gul arrived here Tuesday for an official visit as guest of Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing. Besides Beijing, Gul will also travel to Shanghai during his five-day China trip, accompanied by officials and entrepreneurs.

Sino-Turkish trade in 2004 topped 3.4 billion US dollars, up about 30 percent year on year. China mainly exports machinery and electronic products, textiles and chemical products to Turkey and imports metallic products and mineral ores. Enditem