The European Chamber Joins a Roundtable on Government Procurement Organised by the Ministry of Commerce
2024-05-15 | All chapters
On 15th May 2024, European Chamber Secretary General Adam Dunnett attended the closed-door Roundtable for Foreign Invested Enterprises on Government Procurement, hosted by Vice Minister Ling Ji of the Ministry of Commerce. Officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Information Industry & Technology, the National Health Commission, the National Healthcare Security Administration and the National Finance Regulatory Administration also participated in the meeting.
Dunnett raised concerns over the preference for made-in-China products in government procurement. He noted that more inclusion of European manufacturers in government procurement could help reduce the bilateral trade imbalance and demonstrate reciprocity. Dunnett also recalled China’s WTO commitment to join the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), which would compel it to provide procurement market access to European and other companies from GPA-countries. He further expressed concerns previously raised by Chamber members on patent issues in volume-based procurement in the medical device sector, and the higher benchmarks that are applied to safety and reliability evaluations of innovative technologies in the information technology sector. Dunnett finished by summarising some of the key findings of the European Chamber’s Business Confidence Survey 2024, and highlighted the need to improve China’s business environment for the benefit of both Europe and China.
Vice Minister Ling clarified the scope of government procurement and also highlighted the role played by the Foreign Investment Law. He reiterated the role of the Ministry of Commerce in boosting business confidence by collecting and solving the problems raised by members of the foreign business community.