The 25th Session of China-EU Trade & Economic Joint Committee was held on July 14, in Beijing. Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming and EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht co-chaired the Session.

At the Session, the two sides conducted extensive, in-depth and sincere communication over China-EU trade and economic relations, and exchanged views and reached important consensus on China-EU development cooperation, updating negotiation on 1985 China-EEC Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement, promoting bilateral investment and high-tech trade, accelerating negotiation on China-EU Geographical Indications Protection Agreement, initiating negotiation on China-EU investment agreement as soon as possible, promoting trade of agricultural products and trade in services, strengthening cooperation on Standards and Conformity assessment, and advancing WTO Doha round negotiations. After the Session, Chen and De Gucht met with the reporters together.

Chen said that China and Europe are important trade partners to each other, and the economic and trade relation has become the important engine and solid foundation for China-Europe overall strategic partnership. China-EU trade in 2010 hit the record high reaching US$479.7 billion; in the first half of this year, the bilateral trade continued to grow fast, and EU continues to be the largest trade partner of China for 7 successive years. EU has become China’s largest import source, which has made important contribution to counteract the adverse impact of EU enterprises in overcoming the financial crisis. Meanwhile, in the context of insufficient circulation of foreign investment, EU’s investment to China has been recovered since last year, quantity increased, investment field expanded, and investment quality and benefits are improving. Many European enterprises are sharing the huge benefits of China’s economic growth by way of investment in China and technological transfer. The sound trade and economic cooperation between China and EU has laid solid foundation for the further development of the bilateral trade and economic relations.

Chen pointed out that China would like to join efforts with EU and give full play to current mechanisms, and make good preparation for the 14th China-EU Summit and the 4th High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue (HED) to be held in the second half of this year.

Chen stressed that to further reinforce China-EU trade and economic cooperation is not only beneficial for the economic development of the two sides, but also conducive to the stable recovery and enduring prosperity of world economy. China’s 12th Five-Year Plan and strategy of Europe 2020 started in the same year, and their core development concepts accord to each other’s. China would like to continue to deepen China-EU trade and economic cooperation, create better trade environment, and promote mutual benefit and win-win result.

De Gucht spoke highly of the role of China-EU Trade & Economic Joint Committee in promoting China-EU bilateral trade and economic relations. He said that China has become Europe's fastest growing export market, and EU has already been China’s largest export market; the two sides have promising future for trade and economic relations. EU attaches great importance to trade and economic relations with China, and would like to join efforts with China to continue to advance cooperation on trade and economy, promote further market openness of the two sides, start negotiation of bilateral investment agreement as soon as possible, further strengthen China-EU bilateral investment, and deepen mutual understanding through dialogue and communication, so as to promote the continuous development of China-EU trade and economic relations.

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