Brussels, 20/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - From next month on, the EU and China could give their go-ahead to talks for a bilateral investment agreement. However, Commissioner Karel De Gucht states, the Asian giant must prove it is open to European investment.
“For the EU to engage further and consider a bilateral investment agreement, we need to be firmly convinced that this will produce real added value for EU companies, both in terms of access to the Chinese market and the way their investments are treated in China”, Karel De Gucht explained during a seminar on “EU Business in China”, in Brussels on Tuesday 20 September. The growth in China's foreign direct investment (FDI) in the EU, which tripled from €300 to €900 million between 2009 and 2010, make it necessary for the EU to negotiate formal rules governing investment. Furthermore, voices are making themselves heard in Europe to restrict China's acquisitions in sectors of strategic importance. The trade commissioner is, however, opposed to this, stressing: “I believe that Europe's open investment regime remains our strongest argument for others to grant us similar access”. European investors complain that Chinese restrictions force them to agree to partnerships with Chinese companies and that Beijing does little to protect the interests of the EU. EU FDI in China contracted between 2009 and 2010, from €5.8 to €4.9 billion. China's new national security screening mechanism, which makes investment more difficult in the country, is a “retrograde step which risks further aggravating the detrimental effect on our bilateral trade”, De Gucht admits. The commissioner nonetheless trusts that the EU/China summit on 26 October will allow talks to be opened, or at least give an agreement of principle for such talks. (EH/transl.jl)