Europe-China forum: Cooperation, competition and the search for common ground

Arnaldo Abruzzini represents the voices of over 20 million companies of all sizes and sectors through EUROCHAMBRES’ members in 43 countries and its network of 1,700 regional and local chambers of commerce. He is also an active entrepreneur and has previously served as Managing Director of several companies active in telecommunications, marketing and advisory services in both Italy and the US.  Abruzzini previously worked in the financial sector, notably in investment banking and insurance.

Maja Bakran Marcich is responsible for coordinating activities related to investment, as well as innovative and sustainable transport, and has been involved in discussions relating to the EU-China Connectivity Platform. Prior joining the European Commission, she served as Assistant Minister for Europe in the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. Having held numerous posts in the Ministry throughout her career, Bakran Marcich was also responsible for horizontal coordination of the Croatian accession negotiations, as well as for setting up and managing Croatia’s coordination system for European Affairs.

A recognized international expert in the areas of energy, environmental and competition law, Dörte Fouquet’s particular expertise lie in renewable energy and energy system transformation. In addition to cooperating with the European institutions, she also works for international organisations like the World Bank and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). At present, Fouquet serves as senior expert to the German Ministry of the Environment, advising further development of the German feed-in-tariffs scheme, designed to encourage investment into renewable energy technologies.

As President, Chi Fulin leads the China Institute for Reform and Development’s efforts to facilitate China’s economic and development policy. He has published over 500 academic papers and is the recipient of numerous awards. Chi was listed in 2009 as one of the ‘100 Economists that have influenced China’s economic construction in the last 60 years’. In addition to his role at CIRD, he serves in numerous leadership positions including as Vice-Chairman of the China Society of Economic and Administrative Reform.

Yu Jie was previously Head of China Foresight at the London School of Economics’ (LSE) foreign policy think tank, LSE IDEAS, where she was recognised as a “Leading Woman”. Prior to joining academia, she specialised in advising on Chinese state-owned enterprise investments in Europe, as well as Chinese market entry strategies for European conglomerates. An expert on China’s foreign and economic diplomacy, Yu contributes frequently to major media outlets and briefs senior policy practitioners, including from the EU institutions, the UK Cabinet Office, the UK House of Commons and the Silk Road Fund in Beijing.

A member of the European Parliament for twenty years, Jo Leinen previously served as President of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, Chair of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and took part in the Convention for the Elaboration of a Charter of Fundamental Rights for the EU. In his latest role he was responsible for relations with China. His work also covered relations between the EU and UN, as well as with the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP). Prior to joining the European Parliament, Leinen was Minister for the Environment in the State Government of Saarland, Germany.

Specialised in energy policy, sustainable development and finance, Xi Liang has served as an expert advisor on climate finance to the Chinese government. Prior to his current post, he worked for investment management and advisory firms in China and was principle investigator on climate finance and carbon capture and storage projects with both the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Xi is currently also Secretary of the China Low-carbon Energy Action Network, and an associate researcher in the Electricity Policy Research Group at the University of Cambridge.  

In her current position at DG TRADE, Maria Martin-Prat is in charge of Asia, the Pacific, Africa and the Caribbean. She also oversees sustainable development and Green Deal trade related issues, services and digital trade, as well as investment and intellectual property. Before assuming this role, Martin-Prat served as a director at DG Trade and consecutively as the head of the unit responsible for free movement of services, freedom of establishment and copyright in the European Commission.

Zhang Ming has had a long and distinguished career in the diplomatic service, specialising in West Asian and North African affairs. Starting his career by working in Chinese embassies in Yemen, Oman and Israel, he later became Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Kenya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Permanent Representative to UN-Habitat. Prior to his appointment to Ambassador of the Chinese Mission to the EU, Zhang served as Vice-Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A sinologist, Andrejs Pildegovičs has more than 20 years of experience in the Latvian Foreign Ministry. Latvia was the first Baltic country to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and is part of the “16+1” group, China’s mechanism for engaging with Central and Eastern Europe. During his time in the Ministry, Pildegovičs has also served as Undersecretary of State and Political Director, Ambassador to the United States and Mexico and Chief of Staff to the President.

Jiang Ruiping is an expert professor whose research covers Japanese economy, China-Japan economic relations, East Asian economic cooperation and international political economy. His many posts include serving as Vice Chairman of the National Association for Japanese Economic Studies and as Vice-President of the East Asian Forum for Peace and Development. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee for Trade at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and of the Advisory Group of East Asian Cooperation at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Astrid Skala-Kuhmann is an expert in emerging markets and sustainability issues with a focus on China, having served for six years as GIZ’s chief resident representative and country director there. She later served as GIZ’s Director-General of Global Partnerships – Emerging Economies. In her current capacity, she advises on matters related to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Skala-Kuhmann is also co-dean for the “Zukunftsbrücke” (Sino-German Young Professional Campus) and a supervisory board member of Lenzing AG and Semperit AG, Austria, both stock-listed with global scopes.

In his current role, Karmenu Vella has often engaged with China, most recently by signing a landmark partnership agreement on oceans which includes commitments to both the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and to achieving ocean-related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to joining the European Commission, he served as Minister of Malta’s Ministries of Public Works, Industry and Tourism. Vella was elected to the Maltese Parliament in 1976 and was re-elected nine consecutive times.

With more than twenty years’ experience in the EU’s external relations and trade policy, Gunnar Wiegand has previously served as Spokesman for External Relations to Commissioner Chris Patten; Head of Unit for Relations with the United States and Canada at the European Commission’s External Relations Directorate-General; and Deputy Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia at the EEAS, during which time he was the EU’s Chief Negotiator for the Association Agreements with Moldova, Georgia and Armenia, as well as the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Kazakhstan. Wiegand also acted as the EU’s Chief Negotiator for the new EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement.

Chang Xiuze is a prominent Chinese economist specialised in institutional economics, including theory on people’s development, broad intellectual property theory and China’s transformation. Beyond his work for the NDRC, he is also a research fellow of the National Center for Economic Research at Tsinghua University. A prolific author, he has published 10 books and many academic articles, some of which have been awarded national prizes.

Wang Yao is a distinguished academic, currently serving as a Fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership and as Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern Queensland and University of Victoria. An expert in green finance, climate finance and low carbon economics, Wang is also an expert at the Asian Development Bank and has authored a number of publications on the topics, including Carbon finance: global vision and distribution in China.