First summit for EU with new Chinese leadership on 16th EU-China Summit – Beijing, 21 November 2013

Brussels, Belgium, 19-11-2013 — /EuropaWire/ — On 21st November 2013, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, will meet Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang in Beijing for the 16th EU-China Summit. They will also meet President Xi Jinping the evening before. Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas (Transport) and Commissioners Karel De Gucht (Trade), Johannes Hahn (Regional Policy) and Günther Oettinger (Energy) will also participate in the summit.

This is the first summit that the European Union will hold with the new Chinese leadership. It marks the 10th anniversary of the EU-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and it will be an important moment to look forward to the next decade of cooperation between the EU and China.

Leaders will discuss how best to meet new policy challenges in a changing world, in particular the need to secure green growth. The summit agenda will deal with EU-China bilateral relations including trade and investment, market access, human rights, innovation, urbanisation, good governance and the rule of law, agriculture, energy, climate change, environment and people-to-people exchanges. There will be an exchange of views on each other’s domestic situations. Global development and regional issues will be covered, including cooperation in the G20 and security in each other’s neighbourhoods, including the crisis in Syria.

Negotiations are expected to be launched on an EU-China bilateral investment agreement. Such a deal would be the EU’s first ever stand-alone investment agreement and aim to enhance investment flows by reducing barriers to investing in China, by improving the protection of mutual investments and by providing European investors with better access to the Chinese market with more legal certainty. Agriculture, Energy and Intellectual Property Rights Agreements are to be signed.

President Barroso said: “This year we celebrate the 10th anniversary of our strategic partnership with China. In these last 10 years, the world has changed and China and the European Union have been driving forces behind this change. I look forward to meet the new Chinese leadership to take stock of our common achievements and project our relations for the next decade. Green growth in a safer world will be the dominant theme of this summit and will become the motto for our future cooperation. We are and we will remain important to each other’s prosperity. The EU is China’s biggest economic partner, with almost half a trillion euros’ worth of trade between us last year. Launching investment agreement negotiations will be a new chapter in our work, boosting jobs and growth in ours’ economies. But we are also global partners and we will discuss ways to contribute to regional and global stability as well as strong, sustainable and balanced growth”.

President Van Rompuy said: “We look forward to meeting the new Chinese leadership. This Summit is an opportunity to bring our Strategic Partnership to a new level. Building on our interdependence as well as on our combined weight and experience, we need to improve how we deal together with the most pressing global threats and challenges. We also need to continue our cooperation in a mutually beneficial growth agenda that will also strengthen the global economy.”

Commissioners Oettinger, Hahn and Kallas will address the EU-China Urbanisation Forum, which gathers EU and Chinese Mayors, local decision-makers, city planners, business and NGOs to share experience in moving towards sustainable, integrated and efficient solutions. The EU and China are developing city pairings and other mechanisms to foster joint projects from low-energy buildings to clean mobility, integrated water and waste treatments to social inclusion and efficient public services.