13th EU-China Summit — Joint Press Communiqué

1. The 13th EU-Chi­na Sum­mit took place in Brus­sels on 6 Octo­ber 2010. Pre­mier Wen Jiabao of the State Coun­cil of the People’s Repub­lic of Chi­na attend­ed the meet­ing on behalf of Chi­na. The EU was rep­re­sent­ed by Mr. Her­man Van Rompuy, Pres­i­dent of the Euro­pean Coun­cil and by Mr. José Manuel Bar­roso, Pres­i­dent of the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion.

2. The lead­ers expressed sat­is­fac­tion that the bilat­er­al rela­tions had strength­ened dur­ing the recov­ery from the inter­na­tion­al finan­cial cri­sis. They agreed that EUChi­na rela­tions should stand at a new start­ing point for fur­ther devel­op­ment at a time when the impacts of the cur­rent finan­cial cri­sis on the inter­na­tion­al eco­nom­ic, polit­i­cal and secu­ri­ty land­scape are becom­ing increas­ing­ly evi­dent, and the EU and Chi­na are both enter­ing a new impor­tant stage of devel­op­ment. On the occa­sion of the 35th anniver­sary of the estab­lish­ment of diplo­mat­ic rela­tions, the two sides expressed their com­mit­ment to open a new phase in the EU-Chi­na rela­tions tak­ing full advan­tage of the new oppor­tu­ni­ties includ­ing those pro­vid­ed by the Lis­bon Treaty.

3. The EU and Chi­na agreed to strength­en fur­ther their com­pre­hen­sive strate­gic part­ner­ship in a spir­it of equal­i­ty, reci­procity and mutu­al ben­e­fit. They agreed that their coop­er­a­tion should also be strength­ened to address glob­al chal­lenges. In this regard, they stressed the strate­gic guid­ance giv­en by the EU-Chi­na Sum­mit in coor­di­nat­ing EU-Chi­na dia­logues and coop­er­a­tion in all fields, with par­tic­u­lar impor­tance attached to the sig­nif­i­cant role of EU-Chi­na strate­gic dia­logues on polit­i­cal, eco­nom­ic and trade, as well as macro-econ­o­my affairs. Both sides ful­ly acknowl­edged the impor­tance of rec­og­niz­ing each other’s major con­cerns with a view to fur­ther­ing their over­all relationship. 

4. The two sides reviewed their bilat­er­al eco­nom­ic and trade rela­tions and expressed sat­is­fac­tion with the rapid recov­ery and growth of bilat­er­al trade and invest­ment in 2010. They agreed to inten­si­fy dis­cus­sions on ways to pro­mote bilat­er­al trade and invest­ment, also remov­ing trade bar­ri­ers and ensur­ing a busi­ness cli­mate con­ducive to the fur­ther devel­op­ment of trade and invest­ment relations.

5. The two sides took note of the work of the Joint Task Force on Invest­ment and under­lined the sig­nif­i­cant poten­tial that could be real­ized from pur­su­ing dis­cus­sions in this area. The Joint Task Force will report back at the next meet­ing of the High-Lev­el Eco­nom­ic and Trade Dia­logue. Both sides wel­comed the 6th EU-Chi­na Busi­ness Summit.

6. Lead­ers wel­comed the dis­cus­sions held in Brus­sels on Octo­ber 4–5 between the Euro Troi­ka and their Chi­nese coun­ter­parts on macro-eco­nom­ic issues. They reit­er­at­ed that fur­ther con­cert­ed efforts were need­ed to put in place sound fis­cal poli­cies that would guar­an­tee the sus­tain­abil­i­ty of pub­lic finances while being growth-friend­ly, inter alia, to inten­si­fy struc­tur­al adjust­ment in order to make growth more sus­tain­able and bal­anced as well as to allow for flex­i­ble respons­es to the evo­lu­tion of eco­nom­ic fun­da­men­tals. These joint efforts would put the glob­al recov­ery on a more sol­id and sus­tain­able track.

7. Lead­ers stressed the impor­tance of the next G20 meet­ing in Seoul where coor­di­nat­ed actions are need­ed to secure the glob­al eco­nom­ic recov­ery and lay­ing the foun­da­tions for strong, sus­tain­able and bal­anced growth not least through an agree­ment in the Doha round nego­ti­a­tions. Lead­ers under­lined that enhanc­ing finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty and ensur­ing an open trade and invest­ment envi­ron­ment remained com­mon chal­lenge to be urgent­ly addressed. They also wel­comed the G20’s recog­ni­tion that achiev­ing glob­al growth requires nar­row­ing the devel­op­ment gap and reduc­ing pover­ty. The two sides expressed their sup­port for achiev­ing the set tar­gets for IMF quo­ta reform before the G20 Seoul Summit.

8. Lead­ers agreed that appro­pri­ate cli­mate change and ener­gy poli­cies are need­ed to sup­port joint efforts toward ener­gy sav­ings, increas­ing ener­gy effi­cien­cy and fos­ter­ing green and low-car­bon devel­op­ment. The two sides will fur­ther enhance pol­i­cy dia­logue and prac­ti­cal coop­er­a­tion under the frame­work of the EU-Chi­na Cli­mate Change Part­ner­ship and the Ener­gy Dia­logue. Coop­er­a­tion should, inter alia, focus on renew­able ener­gies, ener­gy effi­cien­cy, smart grids and clean coal tech­nolo­gies includ­ing car­bon cap­ture and stor­age. They encour­aged research actors, in par­tic­u­lar SMEs, to car­ry out research and devel­op­ment coop­er­a­tion in ener­gy, aim­ing to pro­mote ener­gy con­ser­va­tion and emis­sion reduc­tion. Lead­ers also under­lined that they remain com­mit­ted to the cli­mate nego­ti­a­tions under the guid­ance of the “Bali Action Plan” and to pro­mot­ing a pos­i­tive, com­pre­hen­sive and bal­anced out­come at the Can­cun conference.

9. Lead­ers dis­cussed inter­na­tion­al and region­al issues of mutu­al con­cern. Both sides appre­ci­at­ed their coop­er­a­tion on anti-pira­cy in the Gulf of Aden as a pos­i­tive step and agreed to explore fur­ther areas for coop­er­a­tion. They agreed to inten­si­fy coop­er­a­tion on devel­op­ment issues and reit­er­at­ed their sup­port to achiev­ing the MDGs. 

10. Lead­ers expressed their com­mit­ment to give full sup­port to the EU-Chi­na Year of Youth 2011, recall­ing its main objec­tives to pro­mote inter­cul­tur­al dia­logue, and strength­en­ing mutu­al under­stand­ing and friend­ship between Chi­nese and Euro­pean youth. Lead­ers gave their full sup­port for the first EU-Chi­na High Lev­el Cul­tur­al Forum (Brus­sels 6–7 Octo­ber) that set the stage for declar­ing 2012 as the Chi­na-Europe Year of Inter­cul­tur­al Dialogue.

11. The two par­ties signed coop­er­a­tive agree­ments on Ocean affairs and Year of Youth 2011. 

Source:
Coun­cil of the Euro­pean Union 

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