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Ms Mieke Vanderstraeten studied Law in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and obtained an LLM (Lex Legis Magister) in European Law at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium). She started her professional career at the Dutch Competition authority followed by 4 years as one of the three 'referendaire' (legal advisors) in the Cabinet of the Dutch Judge at the 'Supreme Court' of the European Union in Luxembourg. In 2004 she joined the European Commission in Brussels where she worked at the Competition authority of the EU. Since 2008, she became an EU Lead-negotiator on a substantial part of the 'Trade in Goods' chapter in EU's Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) negotiations in Asia (notably Korea, India, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand but also with Singapore and Japan). After the EU Flagship FTA with Korea entered into force, she simultaneously was also responsible for a substantial part of its implementation. Her experience in Asia has brought her to take up a diplomatic post at the EU Delegation in China in August 2013. While having dealt with a diverse pallet of issues at the Trade section (i.a. Competition enforcement in China, High Tech Trade, Chinese export credits, SOEs) she currently deals primarily with 'investment' and is as such part of the negotiation team of the 'EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment' which started early 2014. Ms Mieke Vanderstraeten is married and has 3 daughters.

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Mr Vivian Desmonts manages the Guangzhou office of DS Law Firm, which is a European law firm with 20 offices in the world. Vivian is vice chair of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, legal counsel of the French Consulate in Guangzhou and arbitrator at the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration. After 4 years at DS Law Firm Paris office and 2 at its Shanghai office, Vivian has set up in 2004 the Firm’s Guangzhou office. With over 10 years of experience in Chinese law and practice, Vivian advises European groups and SMEs mainly in corporate law, business law, employment law and tax law.