Source : Procurement Leaders
China is unlikely to join the World Trade Organization’s (WTOs) government procurement agreement this year according to a government official, as disagreements continue over standards that China has to meet.
Suo Bicheng, director of the Department of World Trade Organization Affairs within the Ministry of Commerce, told Chinadaily.com that, “A lot of problems need to be resolved before China can join the pact."
She added, “We see little chance of there being success in the short term, or even say this year."
The problems surround China having to make changes to domestic regulations. These changes are supposed to allow foreign companies to compete for government purchasing deals but Suo believes that these standards are constantly being raised by developed nations making them more difficult for China to meet.
In July 2010 China attempted to join the agreement but while the offer was praised by many including the European Union and US it was not allowed to join without further concessions being made.
Another attempt was made in November 2011 but disagreements arose over how much spend this would be for and as such was rejected.
Suo said, ”We have already made more concessions in our newest offer to join the government procurement agreement, but still can’t meet the demands of some developed nations,"
The European Union is expected to introduce an updated version of its own government procurement agreement today which would bar companies from countries such as China from taking part. But Suo was optimistic this wouldn’t have an impact on businesses.
"The EU’s new pact, when adopted, won’t have an immediate effect on Chinese companies bidding for EU contracts and won’t scare China into making concessions over the government procurement agreement proposal," she said.