On December 15, 2022, the fifth China-EU Business Leaders and Former Senior Officials Dialog, co-organized by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) and BusinessEurope, was held via Zoom. Representatives from both sides had a frank dialogue and in-depth exchanges on topics such as “China-EU Supply Chain Cooperation and World Economic Recovery and Growth” and “Deepening China-EU Bilateral Trade and Investment Cooperation”. Liu He, Vice Premier of the State Council, delivered a written message. Bi Jingquan, the Executive Vice Chairman of CCIEE and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Zhang Xiaoqiang, the Executive Vice Chairman of CCIEE and former Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, Frederik Persson, President of BusinessEurope, and more than 30 representatives of Chinese and European business leaders and former senior government officials attended the meeting. Fu Cong, Chinese Ambassador to the EU, attended the meeting and exchanged views with representatives from both sides.

The Chinese representatives said that the changes in the world and history are unfolding in an unprecedented manner. The Covid-19 pandemic seems never ending, the vulnerability of the world economy has become more prominent, the geopolitical situation is tense, global governance is seriously lacking, multiple crises such as food and energy are overlapping, and human development is facing major challenges. As the two major forces for maintaining world peace, the two major markets for promoting common prosperity and the two major civilizations for advancing human progress, China and the EU have maintained positive momentum in their relationship. Adhering to mutual benefit and win-win cooperation is in the common interest of China and the EU as well as the international community.

The Chinese representatives believed that economic growth is a key issue of common interest for China and the EU, and that the two sides should jointly inherit and carry forward the spirit of collaboration formed during the global financial crisis, the Paris Agreement negotiations and other landmark events in bilateral relations, strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination, reinforce the complementary advantages of the two sides in markets, capital and technology, explore the growth areas of cooperation in high-end manufacturing, digital economy, green development, renewable energy and third-party markets, ensure the security and stability of the supply chain, and oppose “decoupling” and protectionism, and the politicization and weaponization of economic, trade and technology issues.

EU representatives said that the EU and China are long-term partners, and both sides have extensive consensus on macroeconomic policy coordination, supply chain cooperation and market opening, which have formed a positive relationship based on mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. In the future, the EU and China should continue to strengthen cooperation in many fields, such as green and low-carbon development and digital economy, and jointly maintain the safety and reliability of supply chains in the EU, China and globally. Both sides should maintain the long-term healthy and stable economic and trade relations, continue to maintain the current steady growth momentum, and play an important role in promoting the recovery of the world economy.

The China-EU Business Leaders and Former Senior Officials Dialog mechanism is a platform established by CCIEE and BusinessEurope in 2017, aiming to play an active role in promoting the development of healthy and stable collaborative relations between China and EU countries.