Envoy: upcoming EU-China summit significant for future co-op

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Envoy: upcoming EU-China summit significant for future co-op

(CRI Online) 20:50, November 14, 2013

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BEIJING, Nov. 14 -- The top EU envoy in China says the upcoming EU-China summit will lay out a blueprint for deepening all-round cooperation between the two sides until 2020.

The 16th EU-China summit is due to open in Beijing next week.

The summit will be attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will also meet the European leaders at the occasion.

Markus Ederer, head of the EU delegation to China, says the summit, the first of its kind under China's new central leadership, will be significant for the future development of EU-China relations.

"This is a special summit as it commemorates 10 years of comprehensive strategic partnership. It is also special because we will also look ahead to 2020 in a unique effort to draft a strategic plan for our cooperation very much on security, prosperity and sustainable development with green growth at its heart. This document should be the main outcome of the summit."

Ederer adds leaders from the two sides will discuss a wide range of issues, including trade, investment, urbanization, security and other global issues of common concern.

He says one of the major tasks of the summit is to launch negotiations on an investment agreement, which, the EU hopes, will facilitate investment flows between the two economies.

"Proposed launch of negotiations for bilateral investment agreement which we hope will be one of the key outcomes of the summit. The agreement should lead to improve investment protection, market access for both sides."

Currently China and the EU have strong trade relations.

Daily trade volume of goods and services has reached 1.5 billion US dollars.

But the flow of bilateral investment lags far behind.

Statistics from the EU show bilateral foreign direct investment is less than 3 percent of both sides' total outflows last year.

Meanwhile, Ederer says he believes China's newly announced reform strategies are conducive for China-EU economic relations.

"When it comes to the effect of the decisions of the third plenary on the EU-China trade relationship, obviously the summit will give a very good opportunity for the European leaders to learn about the plans behind the communique. And certainly what has been said about the decisive role of the market in terms of reforms would bode well with EU-China economic relations."

Initiated in 1998, the annual EU-China summit is the highest-ranking dialogue platform between China and the EU.