Secretary General Dunnett Discusses Progress and Challenges in EU-China Relationship on CGTN Go back »
2019-01-15 | All chapters
On 15th January, Adam Dunnett, Secretary General of the European Chamber, was invited on CGTN’s The Point to discuss EU-China Trade. Secretary General Dunnett explained how China's 2018 import tariff cuts, the attraction of the European single market, and increasing demands from Chinese consumers have resulted in both a growing and more intensive EU-China trade relationship. While the EU still maintains a significant trade deficit with China, it has slowly improved over time. Although the EU-China trade relationship is very strong — the EU is China's largest trading partner — he pointed out that more could be done to improve the investment relationship.
Secretary General Dunnett expressed that the on-going Comprehensive Agreement on Investment between the EU and China represents an opportunity to strengthen the bilateral investment relationship. He also spoke on China's recent reform efforts. While much has taken place, as he outlined in the Chamber's 18 months since Davos report, he highlighted that China needs to continue with further reforms in the services sector, including the areas of legal, construction and telecoms. Secretary General Dunnett said that European companies are still interested in China, but that the regulatory environment is still very challenging as adherence to the country’s technical roadmaps is a requirement for market access and subsidies in many cases.
