The 16th China EU summit will kick off tomorrow in Beijing. The two sides are expected to launch a formal bilateral investment negotiation.

The expected investment negotiations will include topics such as investment protection and market access. The coming dialogue is particularly important as the two sides have been in several trade disputes over the past two years.

"It’s the right thing for us to work out our differences through negotiations and dialogue. For example, the successful resolution of solar panels trade dispute shows that we are capable of controlling our disputes wisely." Said Shen Danyang, spokesman of Ministry of Commerce.

In the first ten months of this year, trade between China and the EU has reversed the downward trend began last year Total trade volume has reached 456 billion US dollars, it is a 0.5% rise year on year. There is high hope from officials of both sides that investment might also pick up alongside growing trade. The president of the European Commission Jose Barroso, before attending the China EU summit, expressed his visions in an interview with CCTV.

"Yes it is true there is a huge potential in investment, but if there is progress we believe an ambitious agreement on investment, and agreement that can cover both investment protection and market access can be a very important contribution in this deepening relationship, that is what we are looking at the ambitious agreement and we launched negotiations." Said Jose Barroso, the president of the European Commission.

After arriving in Beijing, Mr. Barosso will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)