How Chinese companies play a vital role in bolstering China-Europe economic ties

Top trading partner

China surpassed the United States to become the Europe Union's (EU) top trading partner last year, as the bloc's imports from China throughout 2020 grew by 5.6 percent year-on-year to 383.5 billion euros (about $465 billion) and exports grew by 2.2 percent to 202.5 billion euros, according to the EU's statistical service Eurostat.

The phenomenal momentum of bilateral trade remains robust into 2021. During the first two months of the year, EU exports and imports to China registered yearly growth of 13.6 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively, Eurostat figures showed.

Economic and trade cooperation is an important part of the China-EU partnership, Zhang Ming, head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, said at the annual conference of the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU in early April.

It is of great significance for China and the EU to maintain solid economic and trade ties, he said.

In December last year, China and the EU concluded seven years of negotiations on the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. The two sides also signed an agreement on geographical indications in September 2020, which came into force on March 1.

"We hope that the China-EU investment agreement will be approved and implemented at an early date," Xu Haifeng, the commerce chamber's chairman, told Xinhua.

"The accord is of historic significance that would pave the way for a clearer and more stable legal framework for Chinese and European companies to invest in each other's markets," Xu said.

With China becoming the biggest direct foreign investor in Hungary in 2020, Mihaly Patai, deputy governor of Hungary's central bank Magyar Nemzeti Bank, expressed his belief that "the economic cooperation between Hungary and China is strong, and is getting stronger each year."

"We will do our best to continue," Patai told Xinhua.