Business group head sees good signs in China-EU relations

World
Europe

03:18

"Cooperation and competition are not mutually exclusive," Adam Dunnett, secretary-general of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, said when discussing European Union-China relations.

"The EU and China have their 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation, for example, on climate change; they are working very well together," he said.

"Trade between the two economies continues to grow and continues to outpace the global average. We are doing better. And on the investment side, China now invests more in the EU than the EU invests in China. China is catching up."

"And there has been agreement on looking at WTO reform, which is also very important for us. There have been negotiations on bilateral agreements on safety aviation and (it is) also important for the two economies. We hope we will see some agreements in the next week."

Dunnett also expressed his desire for progress in China-EU talks on an investment treaty. "I mean these talks have been going on for five years now, and so it's time for them to come to an agreement soon," he said.

"I think that's what businesses are expecting. The EU recently announced its intention to try to have an agreement done by 2020. I think there will be (a) very good sign to the global community if China and the EU could arrange for such an agreement to take place."

"On the Chinese side, they are increasing their investment in Europe. And I think for the EU, we are still very interested in the market access issues here. And China has made some significant reforms in the last few years."

This week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is on the visit to Brussels to co-host the 21st China-EU Summit with Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission. This summit is the last one before the end of the current EU leadership's mandate.