European Chamber Annual Conference 2018 Go back »
2018-12-12 | Beijing
On 12th December, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China held its Annual Conference 2018: Bridging the Reform Deficit. Speakers and panelists engaged on the contentious issues that defined 2018 and examined what current trends mean for the next year.
Speeches that confronted sensitive issues while calling for greater engagement between the EU and China were delivered to a fully booked room by Mats Harborn (speech summary), President of the European Chamber, HE Nicolas Chapuis, Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to the PRC, and Wei Jianguo, former Vice Minister of Commerce & Vice Chairman of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE).
Following the keynote speeches, three panels were assembled to discuss the most pressing issues of the year. The first panel, Headwinds or Tailwinds? Deepening Reform in the Trade War Era, examined the effect that the US-China trade conflict and rising tensions elsewhere are having on China’s economic reform and opening up agenda.
China's Innovation Drive: Top-Down and Bottom-Up, the second panel, explored the comparative value of the competing approaches to innovation in China that are coming from the state-directed and market-driven ends of the spectrum.
Finally, the third panel, Economic Outlook and the Impact for Business, brought together top economists to consider the probable macro trends that we can expect to see in 2019 and what that will mean for business, trade conflict, and growth.
