Brussels, 30/08/2005 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the EU-China Business Summit in Beijing on 5 September, the President of Eurochambres, Christoph Leitl, has suggested launching an EU Gateway to China, a programme to help European SMEs to enter the Chinese market. He says a successful example of trade promotion is the EU Gateway to Japan, an export-support programme for SMEs organised by the European Commission in 1994 (a press release explains that in 10 years of activity, 68 trade missions to Japan have been organised for nearly 1750 small and medium-sized European companies, with an estimated more than EUR 500 million in increased business as a result). Leitl says that with steady growth rates of more than 9%, purchasing power in China continue to increase and 'The Chinese market should also be considered an opportunity, not only a challenge.'
The press release points out that since joining the WTO, China has changes its intellectual property rights legislation to comply with the WTO TRIPS agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), but 'continues to be a haven for counterfeiters and piraters.'