- Title: BELGIUM: CHINA AND EU MEET FOR TALKS ON TEXTILE ROW.
- Date: 25th August 2005
- Summary: (ASIA) BEIJING, CHINA (AUGUST 25, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. MV/GV/CU: HEAD OF EU DELEGATION FRITZ-HARALD WENIG, DIRECTOR FOR TRADE WITH EUROPEAN COMMISSION, MEETING LU JIANHUA, HEAD OF CHINESE DELEGATION AND DIRECTOR OF FOREIGN TRADE AT MOFCOM, SHAKING HANDS; MEETING; CLOSE OF LU SPEAKING; EU DELEGATION LISTENING; WENIG LISTENING (8 SHOTS) 0.50 (ASIA) ANTWERP, BELGIUM (AUGUST 23, 2005) (REUTERS) 2. TV/MV/GV/PAN/CU: GOODS PILED UP INSIDE WAREHOUSE; IMPOUNDED CHINESE TEXTILE GOODS READING 'CINK-ME' ON THE BOXES; SIGN READING '100 PERCENT COTTON TROUSERS'; MORE OF IMPOUNDED BOXES INSIDE THE WAREHOUSE (5 SHOTS) 1.20 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 9th September 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA/ ANTWERP, BELGIUM
- City:
- Country: Belgium
- Topics:
- Reuters ID: LVA9PCLYNC930DJBZE41OIQRGUBV
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: China and the EU meet for talks to settle textile row.
China and the European Union began talks on Thursday (August 25, 2005) to
revise a trade pact that has led to millions of
trousers, sweaters and other textile products from China being blocked by
EU customs officials.
The June 10 deal was hailed at the time as a sensible response to a
deluge of low-cost clothes from China following the
scrapping of global textile quotas on January 1.
But most of the new export ceilings have already been reached, leading
to vast quantities of garments piling up in EU
warehouses and ports.
Retailers are furious that they cannot take delivery of items such as
bras and blouses worth hundreds of millions of euros that
they have bought for the lucrative Christmas shopping season.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson acknowledged on Wednesday (August
24) that there was a "serious glitch" in the June agreement and that
a pragmatic solution was needed.
Teams of technical negotiators sat down in Beijing on Thursday to
explore possible solutions.
These include transferring quotas that have not been filled, such as
for cotton fabrics, to more popular lines, "borrowing"
from next year's quotas or allowing EU importers to bring in goods ordered
before the June 10 curbs.
Experts have long predicted that China, with its huge, modern factories
and cheap labour would be the big winner from the
free-for-all in global textiles after quotas were scrapped.
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