China and the European Union (EU) had reached a comprehensive consensus on outstanding problems over China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), a senior Chinese official said in Brussels on Wednesday.

Shi Guangsheng, Chinese Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, told reporters that he and EU's Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy held special meetings Tuesday and Wednesday, and "both sides reached a comprehensive consensus on outstanding problems over the multilateral talks on China's entry into the WTO" during a series of "constructive consultations" in Brussels.

The agreement between China and the 15-nation EU, the minister said, "created important conditions" for an overall conclusion of substantial talks at the 16th session of the permanent Working Party on China's WTO membership, which is due to be held in Geneva from June 28 to July 4.

The EU and China also expressed their willingness to work together with other WTO members for China's admission to the WTO in the coming months, a news release issued by the Chinese ministry said.

During the meetings, both sides exchanged their views on how to develop Sino-EU economic and trade cooperation and on other issues of mutual concerns, the news release added.

Lamy pledged earlier this month to help China in its long- running bid to join the WTO, saying the European Commission, the EU's executive body, "will move swiftly to renew talks with the Chinese side to resolve our remaining differences in order to pave the way for China's accession."

WTO Director-General Mike Moore also said early this month that it was vital for the key players "to work quickly to translate negotiating progress into multilaterally viable texts and other related data for the information and approval of WTO in Geneva".

He implied that once those texts were completed, all WTO members would have to approve them.

Lamy welcomed the agreement, saying: "...The way is now clear for China to join the WTO in the coming months." "We will now work together in Geneva to rapidly finalise agreement in the WTO," he added.

The EU and China reached a bilateral agreement on Beijing joining the WTO in May last year but later disagreed over the interpretation of several parts of the pact. These disagreements were ironed out in further talks last October.

However, according to sources in Geneva, the EU still wanted stronger pledges on access for European companies to the Chinese insurance market. It was also seeking clarification on trading rights that companies from its 15 member states will have within China. Various technical issues on insurance were also discussed.

Any country wishing to join the WTO must negotiate two hurdles. It must negotiate bilateral agreements with any WTO members that ask for negotiations on market access issues. The second stage is multilateral talks with a WTO working party in Geneva which establishes the common rules of the club for China to enter the world trade watchdog.

Multilateral talks were held at the WTO in Geneva in January but failed to wrap up negotiations on Chinese membership. Another session of the WTO working party is to be held in Geneva from June 28 to July 4.

The EU said on Wednesday that both sides had also agreed to work together closely to finalise the remaining multilateral aspects of China's accession to the WTO.

Lamy's spokesman Anthony Gooch said earlier on Wednesday that both China and the EU wanted to see China in the WTO quickly.

Following talks between Shi and US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in Shanghai, the United States and China said they had reached consensus on issues holding up Beijing's entry to the WTO and would work towards bringing China into the global trade body by year-end.