I must first extend my thanks to Premier Wen Jiabao and his Government for having hosted this unprecedented meeting between the Chinese government and the European Commission. I am here with nine Commissioners first to confirm and foster our strategic partnership with China. 

 

Europe, China and the international community can only benefit from intense cooperation between EU and China. And indeed, when I consider the global challenges we are confronted with today, none of them is likely to see a constructive solution without strong cooperation between the EU and China.  Just consider the list:  climate change, sustainable development, macroeconomic imbalances, international security, financial turmoil, exchange rate fluctuations, energy prices, food prices, raw materials, development of Africa.  All these issues call for a joint response by EU and China.

 

This is why we are here today. We came this time to discuss climate change and sustainable development, and we have made some important progress. My Commissioners have had an extensive number of bilateral meetings with their respective counterparts.  From all these contacts and from the extremely productive meeting we have had this morning with Premier Wen, we have shown both a common will to solve bilateral problems and a clear determination to address global challenges by deepening and fostering our strategic partnership.

 

I have launched together with Premier Wen the first session of the High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue Mechanism (HLM) decided at the last EU-China Summit.   The work will continue this afternoon under the joint chairmanship of Vice Premier Wang Qishan and my personal representative Commissioner Peter Mandelson, joined by a large team of Chinese Ministers and European Commissioners. We agreed with Premier Wen that this new dialogue mechanism should deliver concrete results in order to demonstrate to the European and Chinese people that  co-operation and partnership work effectively for them.  As Premier Wen just said, bilateral trade volumes are impressive and are increasing every year by 20-25%. But there are major imbalances and we both agree on the necessity to rebalance our bilateral trade.  We have made useful progress today.  We are now working towards the next EU-China Summit in France this year where we will take stock of additional progress and expect to see further concrete results. 

 

In the field of science and technology, we have signed an agreement on peaceful use of nuclear energy, focused on Science and Research. We also signed a letter of intent for the ICARE project, an EU-China Institute for Clean and Renewable Energy aiming at training Chinese experts on clean and renewable energy and at developing common technology and research.

 

We also expressed the wish that the EU-China Law School in Beijing will open for the academic year 2008/2009. I would like to inaugurate myself this important joint undertaking.

 

We agreed to develop new strategic cooperation on science and research based on reciprocity and equal partnership and committed to sign this agreement at the latest at the next EU-China Summit. Among areas of joint research already identified are energy, climate change, biotechnology and health.

 

As far as climate change is concerned, we had a very deep exchange of views, particularly on the vital international negotiations.  China is ready to work with the EU to take forward the Bali roadmap. We welcome indications of Chinese readiness to include its domestic emission reduction policies in an international agreement, provided that developed countries commit to mid-term reduction targets for 2020 and that an effective financial mechanism is put in place to promote technology transfer. I am also pleased to note that there will be a joint meeting of climate change experts this afternoon, including members of my own advisory group.

 

We have carried out constructive and substantive discussions on energy. We agreed to sign, at the next EU-China Summit, a Financing Agreement to set up a "Euro-China Clean Energy Centre" (EC2) in Beijing. We also decided to set-up a Regular Dialogue on energy efficiency standards in Construction.   And our cooperation on carbon capture and storage should continue and deliver concrete results.  

 

We have decided to pursue and deepen our cooperation on the field of product safety with the common objective to protect the health of both European and Chinese consumers.    We very much welcome Chinese adoption of a national "rapid warning system" for unsafe goods similar to the European system. 

 

We also decided to agree before the next Summit on a Plan of Action to fight fraud and counterfeiting and to further our customs cooperation and Intellectual Property Rights enforcement. 

 

We had constructive exchanges on social policy and decided to continue our deep cooperation in this important field.

 

In the area of our bilateral environmental cooperation, we noted that the value of projects being developed under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) amounts to some 5 billion euros.  In addition, we have agreed to establish by the end of the year a bilateral co-operation mechanism in order to combat illegal logging.    A new 15 million euros EU-China Environmental Governance Programme will be launched at the next EU-China summit.   

 

Finally, we are resolved to increase our dialogue on Africa and in particular we will identify concrete sectors and programmes to initiate a EU-China-Africa partnership in development cooperation.

 

These are some concrete examples of an effective and dynamic partnership and I want again to stress that we are engaged in China and engaged with China for the benefits of our respective peoples. I fully agree with Premier Wen that we have to increase people-to-people exchanges, particularly among students and young professionals. Academic, scientific, social, cultural exchanges should help give a solid foundation to our bilateral relations.   The EU considers that the stability and the prosperity of China is of paramount importance for the international community and we have expressed our appreciation for the successful opening up and reform in China over the past 30 years.

 

As Premier Wen just said, we had also an open and frank exchange of views on Tibet, where I have reiterated the EU position on this matter. I am encouraged by our exchanges on Tibet and I hope to see positive developments soon. I have first confirmed that the EU is attached to the territorial integrity and unity of China and this naturally applies to Tibet.

 

We have with China a regular dialogue on human rights based on mutual respect and understanding, and I have explained to Premier Wen our position regarding the need for full respect of human rights.  Europe believes that human rights are universal in nature and therefore our human rights policies do not target any one particular country.

 

Concerning the Olympics, I have already said in Europe - and I repeat it in China - that the Olympics must be a celebration for the youth of the world and that it must be a success. That is why I am against the boycott.  I think that these Olympics must be celebrated in a peaceful atmosphere.