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China, EU to cooperate in trade, investment
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-06 15:35 BRUSSELS -- Top officials
from China and the European Union (EU) on Friday vowed to intensify their trade
links in the principle of talks and win-win after a one-day ministerial meeting.
EU Trade
Commissioner Peter Mandelson (R) and China's Commerce Minister Bo Xilai
hold a joint news conference at the European Commission headquarters in
Brussels November 4, 2005. [Xinhua] | In their
20th EU-China Economic and Trade Joint Committee meeting, the representatives
discussed all aspects of the ever-increasing bilateral relationship, focusing on
market access, intellectual property rights and Doha issues.
Speaking after the meeting Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said the
Chinese government attached great importance to the Sino-EU relations. "China is
interested in entering EU market but also has confidence on its own market,"
said Bo.
Bo Xilai, who also met External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner
before the meeting, noted that since the EU and China first established
relations in 1975, their bilateral trade had risen 74-fold, and was expected to
exceed 200 billion euros (about US$240 billion) in 2005.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said the Commission plans to produce a
Communication on Europe's trade and investment relationship with China early in
2006.
At the same time, the Commission and China will look at ways in which a new
framework agreement between them could better reflect the economic and strategic
changes in Europe's relationship with China over the last two decades.
"It will put at its heart the growth of trade and investment between the two
sides," said the Commissioner.
"I am absolutely convinced that Europe needs a powerful strategic response to
Chinese growth."
"Those wanting to restrict this relationship do not have the EU's or China's
interests at heart," he added.
The Commissioner also said that he would continue to work with China to
ensure it meets the technical criteria for Market Economy Status.
"Substantial progress towards Market Economy Status has been made, and at the
EU-China Summit in September it was decided to upgrade our dialogues on this
issue," said the European Commissionin a press release.
The EU and China also discussed the EU's recent offer on agricultural market
access and their mutual interest in balanced and ambitious progress in all areas
of negotiation to ensure a successful Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong.
During the Joint Committee meeting, Mandelson and Bo discussed EU enlargement
and initialed a bilateral agreement on a package of measures to compensate China
on products where EU enlargement resulted in losses to Chinese exporters.
Both sides noted that this was a deal that fully reflected the WTO (world
trade organization) rules on this, and that benefited both the EU and China in a
balanced way.
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