The Third China-EU CEO and Former Senior Officials’ Dialogue Held in Beijing

On November 25-26, the third China-EU CEO and Former Senior Officials’ Dialogue was co-hosted by CCIEE and Business Europe in Beijing. With the theme of “China, EU and Global Economy”, participants conducted frank dialogues in the areas of China-EU strategic partnership, economic and trade relations, bilateral investment, World Trade Organization (WTO) reform, effective multilateralism and industrial cooperation. In particular, how can the China-EU cooperation address global issues such as unilateralism, protectionism and trade friction. Dominique De Villepin, former French Prime Minister, Zeng Peiyan, Chairman of CCIEE, Pierre Gattaz, President of Business Europe, and more than 30 Chinese and European business leaders, former government officials, experts and scholars participated in the dialogue.

The Chinese representatives believe that the world today is experiencing unprecedented changes, blocked globalization and geopolitical conflicts. In particular, a few countries took the lead in provoking trade frictions with China, the European Union and other economies. Unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise. As two stable forces with global influence in the international system, China and the European Union should strengthen cooperation on international system and platform, improve the rules-based multilateral system and global governance framework, and jointly seek solutions for current problems.

Furthermore, Chinese representatives pointed out that China and the EU have extensive consensus on global and regional issues, and it is of great significance to consolidate the partnership between the two sides comprehensively. At present, the China-EU industries are highly connected and complementary, and have great potential for cooperation in the fields of health care, ecological environment protection, digital economy, and third-party market development. So far, 21 rounds of negotiation on the China-EU investment agreement have been conducted, which is an important opportunity for promoting the China-EU economic growth. In the future, China’s opening-up policy and domestic market will also provide new development opportunities for China-EU cooperation. The two sides should play a leading role in dealing with trade frictions, WTO reforms, climate change and so on. Moreover, they should firmly support the multilateral system, maintain peaceful and stable development, and promote innovation-driven and inclusive development.

The EU representatives stated that the EU and China are important stabilizing forces for global prosperity and development, and there is a huge potential for economic and trade cooperation. With the continuous progress in world civilization, economic development and technological innovation, the two sides should work together to consolidate comprehensive strategic partnership through bilateral and multilateral approaches, promote EU-China economic and trade relations, industrial cooperation, safeguard the common interests of the EU and China, maintain their common position, achieve their common goals and make their contribution in accelerating the process of globalization.

The China-EU CEO and Former Senior Officials’ dialogue is aimed at consolidating the consensus of both sides, promoting healthy and stable development of China-EU relations, building a communication platform between Chinese and European business leaders, former senior officials and think tank scholars. It is an important “second-track” exchange between China and the EU. In November 2018, the second dialogue was held in Brussels.