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5th China-EU business summit to be held in E. China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-24 22:52

BEIJING: The fifth China-EU Business Summit will be held in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, said an official with the Chinese Commerce Ministry on Tuesday.

"We will work with the European Union to run a successful business summit to help promote China-EU relations, especially economic and trade relations, to a new level," Sun Yongfu, department chief in charge of European affairs of the Commerce Ministry, said at a press briefing.

The business summit, with the theme of "The Green Agenda: Sustaining Growth beyond the Recovery," will be held as an important accessory activity of the 12th China-EU summit set for the same time.

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The summit provides business leaders from China and Europe an opportunity to discuss the current commercial environment as well as issues of common concern in the China-EU trade relationship, according to the website of the European Chamber.

Sun introduced at the press briefing the general situation of China-EU economic and trade relations. He said that in recent years, China-EU trade and economic relations as a whole has witnessed healthy and stable growth.

China-EU trade volume reached 425.5 billion US dollars last year, an increase of 19.5 percent year-on-year. "This is a fairly good result, but the global financial crisis has brought China-EU economic and trade relations a negative impact," Sun noted.

According to Chinese statistics, in the first ten months this year, China-EU trade volume was 292.4 billion US dollars, down 18.7 percent year on year. But the decline in the past six months was gradually narrowed, Sun said, noting that compared to the negative growth rate of China's total national imports and exports volume in the same period, the China-EU trade volume was relatively stable.

In addition, the European Union in recent years has always been China's most important technology partner, and the EU stands at the fourth place on the list of foreign investment in China.

Sun said according to EU statistics, the total EU exports in the first eight months this year fell 19 percent, but exports to China declined only three percent year on year.

"Conclusion can be drawn by comparing the figures that the China-EU trade is going toward a more healthy and balanced direction," he noted.

China will soon start another economic and trade promotion activity in Europe, the tenth of its kind this year. Sun said the promotion activities are not only simple purchase, but two-way trade and economic activities, including investment cooperation and so on.

The economic and trade promotion activities in Europe this month will lead more than 200 Chinese businessmen to Serbia, France, the Netherlands and Ireland.

"Our economic and trade promotion activities prove that China is an open country, and China takes concrete actions with European partners to oppose trade protectionism," Sun said.