Friends of Europe’s latest high-level Policy Summit on ‘Doing Business with China’ welcomed high-level decision- makers, including Members of Parliament, senior European Union executives, and business leaders as well as academics from China and the EU to look ahead into the coming decade. The discussion centred upon how to turn the relationship into a win for both the EU and China, progress towards recognition of intellectual property rights to the benefit of both countries, and sought to untangle the controversy around sovereign wealth funds. It was co-organised by Friends of Europe and EUROCHAMBRES in partnership with the European Commission.

The one-day Policy Summit took place on 9 December, 2009, and began by highlighting ways in which the financial and economic crisis had demonstrated the rising importance of China’s economy and policies and obliged its leaders to play a much bigger role on the world stage. Companies from the European Union are massive investors in China, providing technology and accounting for many of the country’s exports.

Yet as the second session made clear, Chinese companies are now emerging as competitors to western counterparts, and fostering common thinking on product standards and regulatory policies is becoming essential to ensure the ‘level playing-field” which both China and the EU declare is their goal.

The question of how to turn “cautious co-operation” on standards into a fair relationship in which recognition of intellectual property and market access rights was enjoyed by European companies in China, and by Chinese companies in Europe was explored in detail in the first afternoon session. The conference closed with a close look at the role of China’s sovereign wealth funds in channelling financial imbalances, and concerns over governance and transparency. More detailed information on the topics under discussion can be found on the programme page.

In his keynote address, H.E. Song Zhe, Ambassador and Chief of the Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the EU, said that as “comprehensive and strategic partners” in the years ahead China and the EU would build political trust to underpin shared goals. “We will push forward practical cooperation, with high-tech collaboration in the lead and green economy as the focus,” he said. “We will join hands to meet global challenges with a responsible attitude.”

Friends of Europe was pleased to host the first high-level Policy Summit within the Understanding China programme. This international summit, organised in partnership with EUROCHAMBRES and co-funded by the European Commission took place at the Bibliothèque Solvay in Brussels on Wednesday, 9 December, 2009

Speakers included:

Song Zhe, Ambassador and Chief of the Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the EU
Antonio Fernando Correia de Campos, European Parliament Member of the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection and former Health Minister of Portugal
Stefano Sannino, Deputy Director General of the European Commission Directorate General for External Relations
Mauro Petriccione, Director for Services and Investment and Bilateral Trade Relations at the European Commission Directorate General for Trade
Patrick Horgan, Counsellor for Education and Director of the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy in Beijing
Liesbeth Kneppers-Heijnert, Senate Chairwoman of the Commission on Economic Affairs in the Netherlands
Simon Cheetham, Team Leader of the China Intellectual Property Rights Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Helpdesk
Jean-Claude Knebeler, Director of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of the Economy and Foreign Trade of Luxembourg 
David Gosset, Director of the Euro-China Center for International and Business Relations at CEIBS, Shanghai, and founder of the Euro-China Forum
Haico Ebbers, Chairman of the Europe China Institute at Nyenrode Business University
Maja Wessels, Executive Vice President of Global Public Affairs of First Solar Inc.
Huub Buise, Senior Policy Advisor of the International Business Department and Foreign Economic Relations at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands
Liu Youfa, Vice President of the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS)
Jiang Shixue, Deputy Director of the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS)
Stella Hou, Principal and Asia Broad Based Compensation Practice Leader at Hewitt Associates
Arnaldo Abruzzini, Secretary General of EUROCHAMBRES
Silvia Vaccaro, Acting Director External Policy and Legal Department of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN)