China, EU to discuss creating investment agreement

The top leaders of China and the European Union will discuss creating the first stand-alone investment agreement between the two sides, the EU announced on Nov 19.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy will meet with Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing during the 16th Sino-EU summit on Nov 21.

The summit is the first between the EU and the new Chinese leadership. This year is also the 10th anniversary of the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

"Negotiations are expected to be launched on an EU-China bilateral investment agreement," the EU announced.

"Such a deal would be the EU's first-ever stand-alone investment agreement and would aim to enhance investment flows by reducing barriers to investing in China by improving the protection of mutual investments and by providing European investors with better access to the Chinese market with more legal certainty."

Barroso lauded the development.

"The EU is China's biggest economic partner, with almost half a trillion euros ($675 billion) worth of trade between us last year. Launching investment agreement negotiations will be a new chapter in our work, boosting jobs and growth in our economies," he said.

Leaders also will discuss how best to meet new policy challenges in a changing world, in particular the need to secure green growth.

The summit will deal with Sino-EU relation issues like trade and investment, market access, human rights, innovation, urbanization, good governance and the rule of law, agriculture, energy, climate change, environment and people-to-people exchanges.

Van Rompuy said the EU delegations is looking forward to meeting the new Chinese leadership.

"This summit is an opportunity to bring our Strategic Partnership to a new level," he said.

The EU is China's largest trading partner while China is the EU's second-largest after the United States.