BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of China, Germany, France and the European Union (EU) held a meeting via video link on Wednesday, and jointly announced that China and the EU have completed investment agreement negotiations as scheduled.

The following is the timeline of the negotiations:

In November 2013, the two sides announced the start of negotiations for a bilateral investment treaty at the 16th China-EU leaders' meeting in Beijing.

In January 2014, the first round of negotiations was held in Beijing.

From Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, 2015, the eighth round of negotiations was held in Brussels, Belgium. The two sides achieved significant progress on the scope of topics under the agreement and made arrangements for the drafting of a joint text.

In July 2017, China and the EU held their 14th round of negotiations in Brussels with in-depth discussions on such topics as transparency, domestic rules, and special procedures. The two sides made positive progress over some issues.

During the 20th China-EU leaders' meeting in July 2018, the two sides exchanged market access offers for the investment agreement negotiations, agreed to make the negotiations a top priority and to strive to build an open, transparent, fair and predictable business environment for investors.

In April 2019, the 21st China-EU leaders' meeting was held in Brussels. The two sides issued a joint statement after the meeting, pledging to achieve in their 2019 negotiations decisive progress necessary to conclude the negotiations, particularly with regard to investment liberalization commitments, in a bid to reach a high-level investment agreement by 2020.

In June 2020, during the 22nd China-EU leaders' meeting held via video link, the two sides reiterated their commitment to reaching an agreement over the investment treaty in 2020.

In September 2020, leaders from China, Germany and the EU held a virtual meeting, acknowledging significant progress made in the negotiations and reaffirming their political determination to conclude the negotiations within 2020. The meeting also provided strategic guidance for the next stage of negotiations, demonstrated firm confidence and sent a positive signal.