Brussels, 15/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - Peter Mandelson will be exercising constant pressure on emerging countries during the last chance ministerial meeting at the WTO in May, in an effort to complete Doha negotiations before the end of 2008. During a speech at the China-Britain Business Council on Tuesday 15 April in London, the European Commissioner for trade deliberately targeted China and urged it to make concessions on the industrial market access chapter in an effort to get negotiations out of the current impasse. Mandelson declared, “I hope it lives up to its responsibility and makes a more generous set of offers than has been the case to date”. The Commission provided assurances that he would attempt to convince the Chinese authorities during his visit to Beijing on 24-26 April. He insisted that, “It simply will not fly for China to maintain a position that having relatively recently joined the WTO and brought down tariffs as part of that accession, it no longer has a commitment to make further tariff cuts in this round”. Mandelson added that, “China has gained a huge amount from the international trading system. The rest of the world expects China to pay back into the global trading system some of the broad gains it has made”. China joined the WTO in 2001 and claims special treatment in the Doha Round as a new member. Mr Mandelson's appeal has even more weight since the Commissioner says he is “encouraged” by signs of opening up by Brazil, the leader of the emerging countries, which says it is ready to negotiate. The Commissioner has said that an outline for a compromise on agriculture is taking place, “In the last few days we have been able to put in place the basis for a possible agreement on agriculture”. The Commissioner, however, assured the EU that, “we are not abandoning Europe's farmers…We are over-prioritising their defence over our industrial interests, given they represent only 2% of the EU economy”. The Commissioner for trade said that a multilateral agreement would translate into a gain of €30bn for Europe a year and €120-130bn a year for the rest of the world. (E.H.)