Further cooperation between Chinese and European small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) would make both stronger, said
European Union (EU) Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson on
Thursday.
Mandelson made the remarks in a speech at the opening ceremony
of the EU-China Partnership 2006 held on Thursday in Chengdu,
capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.
SMEs account for 99 percent of the total number of firms in EU
countries and 75 percent in China. They'll play a vital role in
future trade between China and European countries, Mandelson
said.
He expressed a keen interest in securing greater access to the
Chinese market for the EU's financial-service providers and SMEs.
"Our main concern is to keep Europe open to China and China to
Europe. That is the way we can all benefit from growing trade
opportunities," Mandelson said.
"Those trade opportunities are being created by SMEs, providing
jobs for people in both Europe and China. We must increase our
advice, our help and our support to SMEs to do more business
together," he said. "We'd like to hear encouragement from Chinese
leaders to do more in the future," he said.
Europe's trade links with China are growing faster than any
other bilateral trade relationship in the world with the volume
doubling over the past five years. The EU is China's largest export
market and China is becoming a large recipient of European
imports.
"China is driving us to compete harder than ever before,”
Mandelson said. “But it's also a large and growing market for the
things that European firms produce best. Globalization and
progressive liberalization that we associate with globalization is
also a vital engine for creating new jobs as China has
demonstrated."
Wan Jifei, Chairman of the China International Trade Promotion
Committee, said trade fairs were essential to establishing and
developing economic relations between Europe and China.
"SMEs are driving forces in economic development due to their
flexibility and creativity," he said, urging firms to strengthen
cooperation in the sectors of high-technology, energy and
environmental protection.
Chinese companies should attend international trade fairs to
meet overseas firms and gain access to international markets, said
Giorgio Magistrelli, secretary general of the EU Chamber of
Commerce in China.
Trade fairs are a platform for information exchange and dialogue
and an opportunity for Chinese SMEs to find European partners and
enter the European market, he said. The EU-China Partnership 2006
is the largest event in the history of Sino-EU economic
cooperation. Over 500 Chinese enterprises and more than 400
European companies are participating.
During the two-day event nearly 1,000 SMEs will hold some 5,000
"speed-dating dialogues" to establish trade links.
The trade fair is jointly sponsored by the European Commission,
the China Council for Promotion of International Trade and the
Sichuan provincial government. The EU-China Partnership conferences
have brought together Chinese and European SMEs since 2002. About
30 percent of the contracts initiated at the conferences have
resulted in new commercial ventures.
The China-EU joint economic and trade committee held its 21st
session in Beijing two days ago. The two reached consensus in eight
sectors including cooperating on IPR protection, encouraging
collaboration between small and medium-sized enterprises,
strengthening high-level dialogue and settling disputes through
talks.
During the session China and the EU also signed three memos of
understanding aiming to strengthen cooperation in IPR protection
and establish a special team to discuss bilateral trade.
Mandelson told Xinhua that both sides were satisfied with the
results of the meeting while reiterating some concerns about market
access, investment conditions in the telecom and construction
design sectors.
Although there were still challenges to face China had made good
progress in opening its markets and fulfilling its WTO obligations
since becoming a member of that body in 2001, Mandelson
observed.
(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2006)