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XINHUA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE

BEIJING, March 29 -- China's expected entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) will greatly affect the country's agricultural sector, a Chinese researcher said.

China will soon engage in free international trade of agricultural products, which means its agriculture will be subject to global changes in prices, market accessibility, trade structure and trade rules concerning agricultural products, today's China Daily quoted Chen Baodong, a researcher with Guangda Securities Research Institute in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, as saying.

The country will also have to fulfill the obligations it committed to during the 13-year negotiation for WTO membership.

According to Chen, the positive impacts are obvious China will benefit from the preferential treatment in free trade, especially in tariff reduction, enjoyed by all signatory countries to the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade, the predecessor of WTO.

China will unconditionally obtain the most-favored-nation status with all WTO members. These will give China a better opportunity to tap international agricultural resources and markets.

The entry will help China accelerate its agriculture reform and establish an agriculture macro-control system compatible with the market economy, thus enhancing the production of agricultural products and sharpening the competitive edge of China's farm products in the international market.

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