Brussels, 06/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - As announced before leaving for China, Mr. Lamy spoke with his interlocutors of china's state of preparedness for its forthcoming accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the reforms it still has to undertake or further to respect its commitments. The subject was one of the main topics of discussions with the Chinese Minister for External Trade and Economic Co-operation, Shi Guangsheng, who presented him with different training programmes put in place for civil servants and economic officials to familiarise them with China's duties and rights in the framework of the WTO. Talks also turned to problems linked to the respect of intellectual property rights, with which China still has certain difficulties, as well as access for European companies to the Chinese banking, insurance and telecommunications sectors. This trip by Lamy demonstrates Europe's desire to enhance co-operation and resolve problems through discussions rather than entering the rationale of relations of strength and public confrontation a the United States could do. This strategy, moreover, received the backing of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, whose chair, Peter Batey, handed Mr. Lamy a report on measures China should take to respect its commitments in different sectors like industry, services, agriculture, the legal system, intellectual property and statistics. China is now the EU's third major non-European trading partner, behind the United States and Japan. European companies invested 5 billion euro in China in 1999 and 2000. European exports to China amounted to 25.3 bilion euro in 2000, up 31% on the previous year, whereas Chinese imports increased by 40%, amounting to 69.7 billion.