On the evening of the 30th, President Xi Jinping held a video meeting with German Chancellor Merkel, French President Macron, European Council President Michel and European Commission President Von der Lein in Beijing. The leaders of China and Europe jointly announced the completion of the China-EU investment agreement negotiations on schedule.
Xi Jinping pointed out that 2020 is a very special year for both the world and China and Europe. The global pandemic of the new crown pneumonia epidemic is deeply intertwined with major changes unseen in a century, and there are more and more unstable and uncertain factors. Against this background, China and the EU are facing difficulties and working together to promote China-EU relations to achieve fruitful results. The two sides achieved the expected goal of completing the negotiation of the China-EU Investment Agreement within the year as scheduled, and reached a balanced, high-level, mutually beneficial and win-win investment agreement, demonstrating China’s determination and confidence in promoting high-level opening up, and will provide greater opportunities for China-EU mutual investment. New market access, a higher level of business environment, stronger institutional guarantees, and brighter prospects for cooperation will also strongly stimulate the recovery of the world economy in the post-epidemic period, and strengthen the international community’s confidence in economic globalization and free trade. Building an open world economy makes an important contribution to the two major markets of China and Europe.
Xi Jinping emphasized that China is committed to building a new development pattern, which will provide Europe and the world with more market opportunities and create greater space for cooperation. It is hoped that the European side will adhere to free trade and multilateralism, and provide Chinese investors with an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment.
Xi Jinping pointed out that 2021 is coming soon. As the world’s two major forces, two major markets, and two major civilizations, China and Europe should show responsibility and act actively to be cooperative builders of world peace and progress. The two sides should strengthen dialogue, enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation, properly handle differences, and work together to cultivate new opportunities and open new opportunities.
The first is to coordinate anti-epidemic actions. Ensure that vaccines are fairly distributed as a global public product, especially for the benefit of developing countries.
The second is to promote economic recovery. Strengthen policy communication and coordination, persist in building an open world economy, and bring the global industrial chain and supply chain back on track as soon as possible.
The third is the docking development strategy. Increase policy coordination, strengthen the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” initiative and the EU’s Eurasian connectivity strategy, and explore cooperation in the digital field.
The fourth is to accelerate green development. Make good use of the China-EU high-level dialogue mechanism on environment and climate, and support each other in the organization of international conferences on biodiversity, climate change, and nature conservation.
The fifth is to promote multilateral cooperation. Strengthen coordination and cooperation within the frameworks of the United Nations, the G20, the World Trade Organization, and the World Health Organization, promote political settlement of international and regional hotspot issues, actively implement the G20 debt relief initiative, and support Africa’s anti-epidemic and development efforts. Promote world development and prosperity.
European leaders said that despite the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Europe and China have maintained close high-level communication this year and made important progress on a series of issues such as the Geographical Indication Agreement. Today we have a meeting to jointly announce the end of EU-China investment agreement negotiations. This is an important milestone for the development of EU-China relations and will also help promote the recovery and growth of the world economy. This once again shows to the world that although Europe and China have differences on some issues, both sides have the political will to strengthen dialogue and deepen cooperation on the basis of mutual respect to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. The EU-China Investment Agreement is of a high level. The EU appreciates China’s further opening up and actively promotes trade liberalization and investment facilitation. Both Europe and China support multilateralism. A strong EU-China relationship is conducive to solving the global challenges facing the world today. The European side appreciates China’s major measures in addressing climate change and helping Africa fight the epidemic, and hopes to continue to coordinate and cooperate closely with China on issues such as global anti-epidemic, climate change, biodiversity protection, sustainable development, and WTO reform.
The leaders of China and the EU exchanged New Year greetings and jointly stated that they will maintain close communication in the new year, jointly advance the agenda of major exchanges between the two sides, and promote the continuous development of China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership.
Liu He, Yang Jiechi, Wang Yi, He Lifeng and others attended the meeting.