EU Official: China to Be Second Trade Partner This Year

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, July 19, 2003

EU Official: China to Be Second Trade Partner This Year

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The European Union (EU) and China will become each other's second trade partner by the end of this year, based on the current rate of development, said Franz Jessen, deputy head of the EU Delegation of the European Commission to China, here Friday.

At present, the EU and China are the third trade partner with each other. According to statistics with China's General Administration of Customs, the trade volume of 2002 was 86.76 billion US dollars, 13.2 percent more than 2001. From January to May 2003 it was 45.72, an increase of 43.6 percent compared with the corresponding period of last year.

Jessen said the upcoming fifth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Economic Ministers' Meeting is very important because "this is thefirst meeting of such nature held by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce since it was established in March and its minister, Lu Fuyuan, took his post."

Jessen said he hopes the meeting will push the Doha Agenda forward.

In recent years, bilateral trade relations developed rapidly and the two sides maintained frequent high-level exchanges.

"China has become more and more important to the EU and the EU has also become more and more important to China. Five years ago, China was the fifth trade partner with the EU," he said, adding that the use of foreign direct investment of the two sides has also increased.

Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show the EU is an important investor of foreign funds, ranking sixth among China's investors. The EU's investment in the first five months of 2003 was 1.77 billion US dollars, increasing 56.1 percent compared withlast year.

China is the EU's active partner in the World Trade Organization (WTO), he said.

Disputes in trade reflect a close bilateral relationship, he said. "If there's no trade, then there's no disputes, and the disputes will not affect the overall relations," Jessen said.

The Fifth ASEM Economic Ministers' Meeting will be held from July 22 to 24 in Dalian, a port city in northeast China. All 26 ASEM members will send delegates to the meeting, which will be chaired by Chinese Minister of Commerce Lu Fuyuan.

The meeting will focus on the global economic situation, economic and trade cooperation between Asia and Europe and the WTO.

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