Officials of the World Trade Organization are to meet in Geneva later this week to discuss China's much-debated and long-delayed accession to the body. Among the outstanding hurdles is market-access accord between China and Switzerland.

A three-day informal meeting of the working party negotiating China's accession gets underway on Wednesday. Members will be holding intensive talks on Beijing's draft protocol of accession laying out the membership terms.

The talks will go into recess but are expected to resume after the summer break with the aim of ensuring that China becomes a WTO member by the end of the year.

China has already concluded market-access pacts with 34 of its 37 principal trading partners, including the European Union and the United States.

The three remaining accords waiting to be agreed are with Switzerland, Mexico and Ecuador.

swissinfo with agencies

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