Chinese Trade Minister Bo Xilai met with EU Commissioner for Trade Peter Mandelson and Commissioner for External Relations on November 4 at a formal sitting of the EC-China Economic and Trade Joint Committee.
The Commission and Chinese representatives discussed all aspects of the relationship between China and the EU, with particular attention to economic and trade matters. Talks focused on intensive cooperation between the EU and China in the 20 ongoing technical ‘dialogues’ in areas ranging from the environment and energy to education and intellectual property rights.
Talks with Commissioner Mandelson focused on the Doha Round; market access for EU businesses in China; the protection of intellectual property rights in China and China’s progress towards Market Economy Status.
Speaking after the meeting Mr. Mandelson said, This has been an important year in EU-China trade relations. EU-China trade is likely to continue to break records in 2005. China represents a formidable challenge to Europe but it is also a growing market for the products Europe produces best. Today’s talks have reinforced the need for greater ambition from both sides, but also our mutual commitment to ensuring that competition and cooperation continue to go hand in hand.”
EU-China trade is likely to reach another record in 2005 - €200 billion, up from €175 billion in 2004. 12.5% of EU imports, worth 127 billion euros, come from China. 90% of EU imports from China are manufactured goods – about half of all imports are machinery and vehicles. Europe is China’s largest trading partner.
China receives about 5% of EU exports, worth 48 billion euros. The biggest European exporters to China are Germany (21 billion euro), France (5.4 billion euro) and Italy (4.4 billion euro). These exports are focused on manufactured goods – including textiles.
During the Joint Committee Commissioner Mandelson and Minister Bo discussed EU enlargement and initialled 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 rules, and that benefited both the EU and China in a balanced way.
The Commission plans to produce a Communication on Europe’s trading relationship with China early in 2006. The Commission and China have agreed to consider ways in which a new Framework Agreement between the EU and China could better reflect the economic and strategic changes in Europe’s relationship with China over the last two decades.
