Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday in Beijing expressed his concerns over the stalled Doha talks, urging the developed nations to make concessions to revive the talks at an early date.

"China supports the multilateral trade system and opposes trade protectionism," said Premier Wen in a meeting with visiting director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy.

"The completion of the Doha Round talks is of importance to the establishment of a fair, just and open multilateral trade system," said Wen, adding that the developed nations are expected to "take the lead in making substantial concessions" in terms of cutting farm tariffs and subsidies.

The Doha Development Round talks collapsed in July when five years of lengthy talks failed to resolve disputes among key participants over farm tariffs and subsidies.

The premier highlighted China's determination to go on with its opening-up policy, saying the country will work together with the rest of the world to seek common development.

Since China joined the WTO in December 2001, China has lowered its average tariff by a large margin and widely opened up the service trade to foreign countries, said Wen.

"China's entry into the WTO not only brings benefits to China, but also makes contribution to the development of world trade and economy," Wen added.

Lamy hoped China could play its positive and constructive role in rekindling the Doha Round talks and pushing forward the talks to reach an agreement.

China has fulfilled the promises it made when entering the WTO, said Lamy.

China has been taking an active part in the Doha Round talks and made its contribution to the enhancement of the multilateral trade system, Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

Bo stressed that the Doha Round talks should not only seek progress on market access issues but also fully realize the development goals of all parties concerned.

"Only by addressing the imbalances between developed and developing countries can we secure the healthy and sustained development of global trade," Bo said.

According to the statement, Lamy agreed with China's determination to resume trade talks and promised to make sure developing countries would benefit from the WTO talks.

Lamy was said to have described to Bo his thoughts and concerns over the stalled Doha talks and urged China to play a bigger role.

Last week, U.S. trade representative Susan Schwab came to Beijing, urging China to contribute to the early resumption of the WTO talks.

Source: Xinhua