China-EU agree to provide fair, non-discriminatory business environment

Beijing, The Gulf Observer: China and the European Union (EU) on Thursday agreed to provide a fair and non-discriminatory business environment for each other’s companies, as the 24th China-EU Summit was held in Beijing.

The two sides also agreed to continue to ensure the success of the institutional dialogues in all fields and levels, stay committed to openness and mutual benefits, and appropriately resolve differences through dialogue and consultation, according to a press release issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen jointly chaired the summit.

Li said both sides should stay committed to dialogue rather than confrontation, cooperation rather than decoupling, and peace rather than conflict, to navigate the direction of China-EU relations.

He said China stands ready to work with the EU to uphold the correct positioning of the comprehensive strategic partnership, seek common ground while shelving differences, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation and multilateral coordination, make China-EU relations more stable, constructive and mutually beneficial, and make more contributions to the prosperity, stability, and development of the Eurasian continent and the world at large.

Li pointed out that China is willing to explore more mutually beneficial cooperation models with the EU and strive to continuously inject new momentum and vitality into the relationship.

“We will further expand two-way trade and investment, continue to upgrade trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, deepen green partnership, actively establish digital partnership, and enhance people-to-people exchanges,” Li said.

China opposes the violation of the basic norms of the market economy and opposes politicizing economic and trade issues or overstretching the concept of security, Li said, adding that it is hoped that the EU will keep its trade and investment markets open.

Noting that the EU is willing to be a credible and reliable partner of China, Michel and von der Leyen said the EU adheres to its strategic independence, stands ready to advance high-level dialogue with China to enhance mutual understanding, reduce misunderstanding, deepen cooperation on economy and trade, agriculture and food, climate change and artificial intelligence, and jointly address global challenges and promote world peace, stability and prosperity.

China and the EU also agreed to deepen cooperation on economy and trade, green development, geographical indications and intellectual property rights, use the dialogue mechanisms on export control well, explore establishing an early warning mechanism for key raw materials, and build a stable supply chain partnership.

The two sides vowed to strengthen cooperation on carbon emissions trading, adhere to and practice multilateralism, strengthen coordination within the United Nations and other multilateral frameworks, push for necessary reform of the World Trade Organization, and work together to address global challenges such as food security, climate change and public health. They also agreed to strengthen communication on major international and regional issues and promote political settlement of hotspot issues.