Premier in Bulgaria for CEE meet
AT a time when protectionism and unilateralism have painted gloomy prospects for the future of global growth and economic globalization, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Europe yesterday to deliver a strong message that China will stay committed to opening-up and free trade.
Li arrived in Bulgaria yesterday for an official visit to the country and the seventh meeting of heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries in Sofia, a significant move this year to advance ties between China and the European Union and seek consensus amid increasing world uncertainties.
The premier will also pay official visit to Germany.
Given the current circumstances, observers say, it is in the interests of both China and the EU to expand ties and cooperation, so as to send a positive signal to the world that the two large economies are keen on preserving a rules-based multilateral trading system.
Li has visited Europe over 10 times, and this will be his fourth to Germany as Chinese premier.
During his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Beijing in May, Li said China would further broaden market access, ease restrictions on foreign ownership of joint ventures in some sectors, enhance protection of intellectual property rights and create a more attractive market environment.
He reiterated China’s determination to open up its door wider, a decision that will not only provide a boost to China’s own development, but also bring opportunities and prosperity to the world at large.
In Berlin, Li and Merkel will co-chair the fifth round of China-Germany inter-governmental consultations.
The premier will also participate in economic and trade forums in Sofia and Berlin, where he is expected to deliver a strong and clear message that China’s door will never be closed.
As a major force in the 28nation EU, Germany is the most important trading, investment and technology partner for China in Europe.
Beijing hopes the visit will help safeguard trade liberalization and bilateral investment, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao has said.
At the beginning of China’s reform and opening-up policy, trade between China and Europe was roughly US$4 billion. Four decades later, trade has soared to over US$650 billion. The EU has now become China’s largest trading partner, and China the EU’s second-largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years.
Trade between China and the 16 CEE countries in 2017 grew 15.9 percent, outperforming the overall growth rate of China’s trade worldwide, which stood at 14.2 percent, according to Chinese customs figures.
China’s vast market has generated huge profits for EU companies, and Chinese investment in Europe has created a large number of jobs and increased tax revenues, said Zhang Ming, Chinese ambassador to the EU.
“China and the EU are already highly interdependent.”
Both are staunch supporters of free trade. In face of the strong headwinds against economic globalization, it is more urgent than ever before for China and the EU to defend an open and free global trading system.
In a phone conversation on Wednesday, Li told European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker that China and the EU, as two important forces in the world, should expand cooperation in order to address challenges amid rising unilateralism and protectionism.
Juncker said the EU believes multilateralism is the way forward. The EU expects to promote multilateralism and free trade together with China during the upcoming 20th EU-China summit.
Although there are disputes in China-EU ties, cooperation and win-win results remain the norm, said Ruan Zongze, executive vice president of the China Institute of International Studies. A further expansion of trade ties is expected to top the agenda of the premier’s visit.
Li will attend innovationthemed events and signing ceremonies on a series of cooperation documents in Sofia and Berlin on trade, finance, transport, energy and education.