Xinhua | September 26, 2023
China's Ministry of Commerce said the 10th China-EU High-level Economic and Trade Dialogue held here on Monday was "pragmatic, candid and productive."
The two sides reached a series of outcomes and consensus on macroeconomic policy coordination, industrial and supply chains cooperation, business environment improvement, the World Trade Organization reform, and two-way opening up and regulatory cooperation of the financial sector, a spokesperson of the ministry said Tuesday.
China and the European Union (EU) agreed that dialogues and cooperation are crucial to common development and prosperity and particularly significant against the background that the world is experiencing profound changes and the global economy is struggling to recover, the spokesperson said.
As this year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, the two sides are ready to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two sides, promote healthy and stable advancement in pragmatic bilateral cooperation to build up confidence in global development, and make preparations in the economic and trade field for the 24th China-EU leaders' meeting, the spokesperson said.
In terms of strengthening macroeconomic policy coordination, China and the EU agree to work together to face global challenges, such as climate change, food security and energy security, maintain the stability of the global economy and financial markets, and inject more confidence into world economic growth.
The two sides promised to maintain mutual opening up and provide a fair and non-discriminatory business environment for each other's enterprises, the spokesperson said, adding that China is ready to hold the China-EU Economic and Trade Joint Committee meeting with the EU on a regular basis and make full use of bilateral dialogue mechanisms to strengthen exchanges.
China and the EU agreed to protect and strengthen the rules-based multilateral trading system with the WTO at the core and oppose unilateralism and protectionism.
The two sides reaffirmed the need to advance the WTO reform and reached a consensus on multiple areas, including the reform of the dispute settlement mechanism, e-commerce, trade and environment, and review and oversight functions.
Both sides welcomed the conclusion of the negotiations of the Investment Facilitation for Development agreement, saying that they would promote the participation of more members in order to incorporate the outcomes of the negotiations into the multilateral legal framework at an early date.
The two sides agreed to build stable and mutually trusted industrial and supply chains, expressed opposition to "decoupling and breaking chains," and discussed the establishment of an early warning mechanism for the supply chain of raw materials.
A dialogue mechanism in export control will be established to strengthen communications, according to the spokesperson.
China and the EU also discussed strengthening dialogue and cooperation in intellectual property rights, promoting cosmetics trade, accelerating the market access process for agricultural and food products from the EU, and expanding cooperation in green and sustainable finance.