Meeting with Assistant Minister Wang Shouwen, MOFCOM
2014-11-28 | Beijing
On November 28th, 2014, European Chamber President Joerg Wuttke and a group of Vice Presidents met with Assistant Minister Wang Shouwen at MOFCOM. The meeting took place under the background of NDRC and MOFCOM’s recent revision to the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries. The Chamber delegation presented key messages from the 2014/15 Position Paper and highlighted a number of market access concerns with regards to the auto, financial services and petrochemical industries as well as the need for enhanced IPR protection and SOE reforms, urging for further lifting ownership caps and speedy national roll-out of the Negative List. In addition, President Wuttke stressed the importance of an early settlement of the EU-China Bilateral Investment Treaty.
Assistant Minister Wang responded that China’s reform requires a gradual process and that MOFCOM also needs time to educate its brother ministries on the benefits of opening up. He welcomed the Chamber to submit written comments on the revised draft of the Catalogue and for member companies to address their concerns over unfair treatment directly with MOFCOM. He also pointed to the pilot free trade zones ready to be launched in Tianjin, Guangdong and Fujian. At the end of the meeting, both parties agreed over China’s continuing strategic importance for foreign investors.