2018 EU-China Forum on Sustainable Urban Development and EU-China Intelligent Technology Innovation Summit
2018-05-18 | Beijing, Tianjin
On 18 May 2018, the China Centre for Urban Development and the Tianjin Municipal Government co-organised the 2018 EU-China Forum on Sustainable Urban Development and EU-China Intelligent Technology Innovation Summit in Tianjin, guided by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the European Commission Directorate General for Research and Innovation. As supporting organisation and strategic partner with CCUD, the European Chamber led a delegation of 38 member representatives from various industries to attend this event.
Chamber Vice President Massimo Bagnasco was invited to give the welcome speech at the main forum. Apart from introduction on the Chamber and the significance of equal treatment and a level playing field for all market players, he also quoted the challenges pointed out by President Xi at the 19th National Congress of Communist Party of China, including the unbalanced development, unsatisfied quality in economic and lack of innovation capacity. The European business in China are more than happy to assist China in tackling these concerns. As he believes, innovation is the key to achieve the goal of sustainable urbanisation and high-quality economic development. With EU-China joint efforts, Chinese cities and citizens will enjoy the benefits from world-leading technologies, high-quality and human-centred services in process of urbanisation.
Chamber National Vice Chair of Construction Working Group Dr George Liu addressed at the panel session on EU-China cooperation mechanism of research and innovation. He provided his insight from the perspective of construction industry. Followed by brief introduction on the Construction Working Group and the main activities, Dr Liu illustrated the areas that are encouraged to cooperate in the process of urbanisation. For instance, city/town planning, concept design and energy efficiency along with green buildings. He also provided several suggestions on cooperation mechanisms, including to incorporate European best practices into the China’s relevant policies, guidance, regulations, certification, standards and codes, etc.
Chamber senior representative of Energy Working Group Michael Roy Balvers from Vestas China also addressed at the Session on Experience Sharing on Green Growth and Low-carbon Cities. He introduced the wind technology and best practice as an example of green technology that is a necessity for sustain urban development.
At the end of main forum, Mr Bagnasco presented the European Chamber Position Paper 2017/2018 to Mr. Peng Sen, Vice Chairperson, 12th National People’s Congress Financial and Economic Affairs Committee and former Vice Chairman of NDRC.