No Images? Click here China is open for business!China hosts its first import expo and moves up in the "ease of doing business" rankings Newsletter November 2018 China International Import Expo: Part of the next phase in China’s economic development China organised its first import expo in November with the participation of over 3600 companies from 172 countries. President Xi Jinping highlighted that “economic globalisation is an irreversible historical trend and provides strong momentum for the world's economic development”. The expo received positive comments from attending leading officials from several European countries. Vytenis Andriukaitis, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety said he believes the expo is very timely, and shows China’s continued commitment to opening up. Spain’s Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Margarida Méndez pointed out that China's "commitment is unquestionable" for reform and opening up. China moves up in the "ease of doing business" rankingsChina recently climbed to the top 50 countries for Ease of Doing Business in a World Bank Report. "China has made rapid progress in improving its business climate for domestic small and medium enterprises in the past year", said Bert Hofman, the World Bank country director for China.Thanks to several reforms, since last year on average it takes about 9 days to start a business, similar to most OECD high-income countries.The report highlights that Beijing is now one of only two cities in the world where the process of starting a business is now completely free. Read more Ambassador Zhang Ming: Import expansion is an opportunity for Europe China is transitioning from high-speed growth to high-quality development. In an opinion editorial published in the EU Observer, Ambassador Zhang Ming outlines what he believes this could mean for Europe. The CIIE aims to offer a new platform for global economic and trade cooperation, which allows countries to introduce their products to the huge Chinese market. Recently China has significantly reduced its import tariffs on a wide variety of goods in line with its economic plans. In the next 15 years, China is foreseen to import foreign goods and services worth €27 trillion and €9 trillion respectively, which could be very beneficial for European enterprises. European companies have already contributed positively to China’s development, for example with China-EU collaboration building the Shanghai high-speed magnet train, and the new Airbus factory in Tianjin. Read More The 12th Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) on 18-19 November in Brussels showed a strong commitment from Asian and European countries to an open world economy. In his speech at the forum, Premier Li Keqiang emphasised the need for continued cooperation between Asia and Europe to strengthen global governance. The forum focused on finding ways to deepen economic integration, to increase interconnectivity between the two regions and to counter the spread of nuclear weapons. Ambassador Zhang Ming emphasised that China stands ready to join hands with other ASEM members and substantially contribute to increased cooperation between Asia and Europe. Read More Premier Li Keqiang and President Jean-Claude Juncker agree to safeguard multilateralism and free tradePremier Li Keqiang and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met during ASEM. They discussed strengthening Sino-European cooperation in addressing global challenges. Premier Li emphasised China's unwavering commitment to reform and opening up and highlighted that China supports reforming WTO, while upholding its core principles such as free trade. President Juncker said that China and the EU share a common responsibility in safeguarding multilateralism, and that the EU appreciates China's significant role in combatting climate change. Read More Future of the China-EU Strategic Partnership At an event arranged by the European Policy Centre (EPC), Ambassador Zhang Ming and Gunnar Wiegand, managing director for Asia at the European External Action Service agreed that Sino-European cooperation is essential in order to address the challenges of the future. The Ambassador opened the debate: “I am proud to see how much has been achieved since China and the EU established the comprehensive strategic partnership 15 years ago.”. He also highlighted the common interests of China and the EU, from upholding multilateralism and international rules, to strengthening global governance. Mr. Wiegand said that the EU and China are increasingly mature partners, and welcomed the steps taken by China for further reform. Read More |