Business leaders push for deeper China-EU economic ties

Fifteen Chinese and European business leaders in the finance and telecommunications sectors are going to meet three top Brussels decision makers late on Tuesday to lobby them into taking concrete measures to deepen the bilateral economic relationship.

It is expected that these meetings are to prepare for the upcoming annual Beijing-Brussels summit, which was postponed last year due to the EU’s leadership shuffle.

Commission Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness Jyrki Katainen, Commission Vice-President for Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy & Commission Vice-President Federica Mogherini will successively receive a delegation of senior Chinese and European executives from the ICT industry and financial institutions.

The meetings are being arranged by ChinaEU, a new Brussels-based international association aimed at intensifying joint research and business cooperation and mutual investments between China and Europe in the Internet, telecoms and hi-tech.

ChinaEU said it provides a platform for constructive dialogue among industry leaders and top-level representatives of European institutions and the Chinese government. This time 15 Chinese and international businesses, such as ZTE and Bank of China, are involved in the initiative.

It also said that discussions will provide a key contribution to a mutual understanding of the importance of promoting cooperation and encouraging investments in the Internet, telecom and hi-tech projects for the deepening of bilateral EU-China relations.

According to ChinaEU, these meetings will take place in preparation for the 17th EU-China Summit, to be held in Brussels in the first half this year.