Dear Working Group Member,
The European Chamber is delighted to invite you to the next joint Working Group meeting. It will be held on Thursday, 19 November, 8h30am-9h30am, at the European Chamber Beijing office. Members in Shanghai can join via teleconference in the Shanghai office.
At this meeting, Ms. Monika Hencsey and Ms. Urszula Stepkowska, Directorate-General for TRADE (DG TRADE), European Commission, will give an update on the status of the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) negotiations. As lead negotiator and deputy lead negotiator respectively, they are both closely involved in the negotiations.
Since July 2014, the EU and 16 other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been negotiating an EGA to remove barriers to trade in environmental or "green" goods that are crucial for environmental protection and climate change mitigation. At the first stage the talks will focus on removing tariffs on a broad list of environmental goods, among which low-carbon and energy-efficient technologies.
The negotiators build on a list of 54 products on which the member countries of APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) have agreed to reduce their tariffs to 5% or less by 2015. Please find the full list of products here.
Tentative Agenda:
8:30 – 9:10: Presentation: Environmental Goods Agreement : boosting global trade in green technologies by Ms. Monika Hencsey and Ms. Urszula Stepkowska, DG TRADE, European Commission
9:10 – 9:30: Q&A
As always, we welcome your suggestions for agenda topics and possible speakers for this and future meetings.
please REGISTER ONLINE. You can, alternatively, register with hdelanghe@europeanchamber.com.cn by Wednesday, 18 November COB.
For more information on the European Chamber in general, please do not hesitate to contact Ms. Heidi De Langhe at hdelanghe@europeanchamber.com.cn
