Brussels, 07/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - After their meeting on Friday in Brussels, European Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, and Chinese Transport Minister Huang Zhendong announced their intention to give fresh impetus to the negotiation of an agreement in the maritime sector. Negotiations will officially start on 13 and 14 September, three years after the Council has granted a mandate to the European Commission. Both parties have also decided to create a bilateral working group on China's participation in the future satellite tracking system Galileo, to rival the current American GPS system.
Discussions on the maritime agreement had been slowed down on the Chinese side, which had chosen to concentrate discussions on its accession to the WTO, then on the European Commission's side, absorbed by maritime safety issues after the sinking of the Erika and of the Ievoli Sun. The Commission recalls in a press release that the aim of this first maritime agreement between the EU and third countries is to secure the following for European vessels: national treatment, recognition of the right of establishment, the development of door-to-door transport and multimodal and logistical aspects of transport, the liberalisation of payments and capital, as well as maritime cooperation.