Carrefour's strong showing on the CTR-CIB ranking has a timely ring to it.In March,the French retail giant opened its newest store in the Zhongguancun area of Beijing.At the same time,the Ministry of Commerce(MOFCOM)announced that in accordance with its WTO commitments,China will lift previous limitations on foreign chain retail operators by December 2004 and that all restrictions on foreign retailers will be removed by 2007,fully opening the country's retail market.