09.00 - 09.30

Welcome & Registration of Participants

SESSION I
09.30 - 11.00

GETTING THE BALANCE RIGHT:
How far are the EU and China from their ‘win-win’ goal?

The mid 2009 EU-China Summit in Prague confirmed both sides’ commitment to the principles of reciprocity and win-win economic cooperation. But with the trade gap having soared from €49bn in 2000 to €169bn last year, and with both sides beset by protectionist pressures amid the global financial crisis, how realistic is this political commitment? What needs to be done to address obstacles such as the controversial “Buy China” policy and other restrictions to Europe’s petro-chemicals, steel, automobile, and financial services sectors? How can the EU’s increasingly vibrant SME sector be encouraged to undertake new ventures in China? From Beijing’s perspective, what do the EU and its member governments need to do to strengthen the economic relationship when both are striving for recovery from the global recession?

Arnaldo Abruzzini, Secretary General of EUROCHAMBRES
Simon Cheetham, Team Leader of the China Intellectual Property Rights Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Helpdesk
Patrick Horgan, Counsellor for Education and Director of the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy in Beijing
Stella Hou, Principal and Asia Broad Based Compensation Practice Leader at Hewitt Associates
Jean-Claude Knebeler, Director of Foreign at the Ministry of the Economy and Foreign Trade of Luxembourg

Moderated by Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe

11.30-11.45    

SESSION II
11.45-13.00

China’s rise to become the new ‘workshop of the world’ gives it an important role to play in the search for equitable world-wide regulations and standards. But with individual Chinese provinces yearning to apply their own rules, how can Beijing ensure that China speaks with one voice? Similarly, with EU member states often preferring bilateral dialogues with China, what can Brussels do to foster common EU thinking on China and to avoid being sidelined by the emergence of a G2 of China and the U.S.? On global standards, how could initiatives such as the China Compulsory Certification (CCC) mark and the EU’s regulatory framework on greenhouse emissions, including the carbon tax, contribute to the development of effective international norms?

David Gosset, Director of the Euro-China Center for International and Business Relations at CEIBS, Shanghai, and founder of the Euro-China Forum
Jiang Shixue, Deputy Director of the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS)
Liesbeth Kneppers, Senate Chairwoman of the Commission on Economic Affairs in the Netherlands
Stefano Sannino, Deputy Director General of the European Commission Directorate General for External Relations
Silvia Vaccaro, Acting Director External Policy and Legal Department of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN)

Moderated by Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe

SESSION III
14.00-15.30

TECHNOLOGY:
Could technological cooperation be the basis for a win‑win relationship?

Despite its dramatic economic growth in recent years, China still lags behind OECD countries in areas like intellectual property protection and seems set to go against the flow on issues like internet freedoms, software censorship and technology transfer. These are key issues if China is to be fully integrated into a new technology-driven global economy, and if Europe’s entrepreneurs are to invest their ideas and capital. In terms of market access strategy, how can the EU and China ensure that reciprocity of access to markets is guaranteed? What sort of technological relationship between Brussels and Beijing might serve as a model for international cooperation while at the same time creating a positive new base for the overall trade and investment relationship?


Huub Buise, Senior Policy Advisor of the International Business Department and Foreign Economic Relations at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands
Antonio Fernando Correia de Campos, Member of the European Parliament Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and former Health Minister of Portugal
Mauro Petriccione, Director for Services and investment and bilateral trade relations at the European Commission Directorate General for Trade
Maja Wessels, Executive Vice President of Global Public Affairs of First Solar Inc
Jonathan Zuck, President of the Association for Competitive Technology, Washington

Moderated by Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have grown to become a globally important source of investment. Yet as these state-owned investment vehicles continue to expand, so too do concerns about their future impact on the way market economies function. Of the world’s five largest funds, two are Chinese, with a combined value of almost €425bn, so what does Beijing need to do to increase openness, transparency, and predictability in this sector? As one of the largest recipients of foreign direct investment, receiving €319bn in 2007, how can the EU ensure that it continues to benefit from an open global economic system? Will future levels of SWFs investment in Europe affect the international role of the euro? What steps should the EU and China together take to promote a common approach towards the challenges associated with these growing investment funds?

Moreno Bertoldi, Head of Unit, Economies of America and Asia at the European Commission Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs
William De Vijlder, Managing Director and Global Chief Investment Officer of Fortis Parisbas Investments
Haico Ebbers, Chairman of the Europe China Institute at the Nyenrode Business University
Duncan Freeman, Research Fellow for EU-China trade and outward investment by Chinese companies at the Brussels Institute for Contemporary China Studies (BICCS)
Liu Youfa, Vice President of the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS)

Moderated by Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe