China expects to hold over 20 joint economic and trade
commission conferences with European countries this year, according
to a senior commerce official.
"The conferences will include ministerial-level talks with EU,
Russia, Germany, Britain and France," said Sun Yongfu, director of
the commerce ministry's department of European
affairs.???
The conferences will aim to boost trade and economic relations
between the two sides. The government will also launch negotiations
on economic issues in the Sino-EU partnership agreement. Sun said
his department would participate in the negotiations.
Trade between China and the Europe grew 25.9 percent
year-on-year to US$299 billion in the first 11 months last year and
is expected to reach US$320 billion for the full year.
"We analyzed trade between China and the European countries and
found the trading structure was being used to optimum effect," Sun
said.
He said that besides light industryproducts exported from China
to the Europe, trade in machinery, electronics and high-tech
products grew fast last year. Machinery and electronics products
accounted for over 60 percent of the total exports and imports,
while high-tech products accounted for 29.5 percent.
But there were also major conflicts in trade relations between
China and EU members in 2006.
The EU anti-dumping tariff, in which the European Commission
placed a 16.5 percent duty on Chinese-made shoes, was the largest
conflict involving Chinese products. The case was estimated to have
affected US$670 million worth of exports and about 4 million jobs
in China.
Sun said the ministry would strengthen negotiations with
European countries this year and expected to solve trade disputes
through the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement
mechanism.
"On the other hand, we will standardize trade among Chinese
exporters in a bid to reduce conflicts," he said.
In the first 11 months last year, European enterprises
established 2,826 projects in China, slightly down from a year
earlier.
"The average investment of each project was US$1.8 million, much
higher than the US$1.69 million invested in 2005," Sun said.
The Europe remains the largest source of China's technology
imports. In the first 11 months last year, China signed 2,606
technology import contracts with European exporters, valued at
US$8.58 billion. The Europe imports accounted for over 42 percent
of the country's total technology imports.
(China Daily January 17, 2007)