Analysis on Prospects for Sino-European Economic Cooperation

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, April 05, 2003

Analysis on Prospects for Sino-European Economic Cooperation

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During the just-ended Ninth China-France Economic Forum, dozens of French firms strove to promote themselves in a bid to take advantage of the major business opportunities generated by the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Unlike previous events of this type, the two-day forum focused solely on the business opportunities generated by the Olympic Games.

Rene Zingraff, a partner of Michelin Group, said the "Green Olympics" had encouraged Michelin to bring its new, environmentally-friendly tire technology to China.

Joachim Biterlich of Vivendi Environment, the world's largest environmental protection service provider, said his group wishes to participate in all aspects related to the Beijing Olympics environmental protection, including waste-water disposal, cleaning,energy and public transportation.

President of the France-China Committee, Denis Kessler, concluded that the 2008 Beijing Olympics attracted leading French firms to the forum. They brought with them not only products and technology, but funds and managerial expertise, as well.

Just days before the forum, Minister-President of Germany's Bavaria, Edmund Stoiber, led a huge delegation of entrepreneurs to China to learn about China and its market and to seize the business opportunities presented by the Olympic Games.

Bavaria is the most economically-developed state in Germany andhas maintained the closest commercial relations with China. During Stoiber's visit, the German-based BMW AG signed an agreement with a Chinese partner to establish a joint venture in northeast China to produce BMW sedans in China later this year.

Helmut Panke, chairman of the BMW Board of Management, noted that the Chinese auto market has become one of the world's largest, as sales last year rose to 3.2 million units. The joint venture isa strategic step for BMW to expand its business in China.

Neither Europe nor China can afford to ignore the other due to the strong technology and managerial experience of the former and the growing huge market of the latter. The two sides have become major trade partners and attach great importance to the improvement of bilateral economic ties in the coming years.

China cooperates with France, Germany, Britain and other European nations in varying ways. Germany is China's biggest trade partner in Europe, having registered 27.8 billion US dollars in trade volume with China last year, while that of France reached only 8.3 billion US dollars, ranking fifth after Germany, Britain,the Netherlands and Italy.

Britain is the biggest investor in China among the EU members, with an annual investment of more than 10 billion US dollars, while Germany ranks second and France third. However, in the transfer of technology, France ranks first in total revenue, although Germany's revenue surpassed that of France last year.

France is apparently not satisfied with the current situation. Former French President Valery Giscard D'Estaing, attending the forum as head of a business delegation, said that economic and trade relations between China and France do not match their sound political relations.

China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew around 8 percent in the first two months this year, setting the pace for this year's target growth rate of 7 percent. While Shanghai is actively preparing for World Expo 2010, preparations to build projects for the 2008 Olympics is also scheduled to unfold in an all-round way this year. These vital projects will surely attract entrepreneurs from the Euro-dominated areas.

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