The 12th EU-China Summit in Nanjing on 30 November 2009 provides an excellent occasion to discuss with China the way towards an ambitious result at climate global conference starting one week later in Copenhagen. The European Union will be represented by the President of the European Council, the Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr Fredrik Reinfeldt and the President of the European Commission, Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso, accompanied by Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The Chinese Delegation will be headed by Premier Wen Jiabao. The Summit will also address the financial and economic crisis as well as the bilateral relationship and international issues, like non-proliferation, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Burma/Myanmar.

President Barroso said: "From this EU-China Summit we intend to send a strong message on our shared determination to face and overcome together global challenges. Only a good week before the Copenhagen UN conference on Climate Change we will stress the need for an ambitious and global result, which includes structures to finance mitigation. There is a lot we can achieve together also in economic recovery and the reform of international financial structures. Furthermore, this Summit takes place only a day before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty which will contribute to enhance the profile and influence of the European Union in global affairs".

"In our bilateral relations I would welcome seeing a rapid increase in people-to-people contacts and student exchanges over the coming 5 years. We need to know and understand each other much better. We should make every effort to increase the number of student and youth visits in both directions, with the aim to triple the number by 2018”, stressed President Barroso.

The following agreements will be signed in the margins of this 12th EU-China Summit:
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on phase II of the Near Zero Emission Coal Project (NZEC)
Financing agreement for the EU-China Environmental Governance Programme
Financing Agreement of the new Trade Project "Support to China’s sustainable trade and investment system
Memorandum of Understanding on Consultation and Cooperation Mechanism on industrial sectors
Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation Framework on Energy Performance and Quality in the Construction sector
Renewal of the Science and Technology Agreement 

The Summit will be preceded by a Foreign Ministers' Troika meeting and a Eurogroup Troika on Sunday, 29 November in Nanjing.

Background

EU relations with China were established in 1975 and are governed by the 1985 EU-China Trade and Cooperation Agreement.  In 2007negotiations began to upgrade this to a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.  Today, China is the EU’s second largest trade partner, with the EU being China’s largest partner.  Apart from regular political, trade and economic dialogue meetings, there are 56 sectoral dialogues and agreements ranging from environmental protection to industrial policy to education and culture.

Background on agreements signed at the Summit:

MoU on phase II of the Near Zero Emission Coal Project (NZEC): A conference on 28-29 October 2009 presented the results of phase I of this project, which is now ready to move into a second phase of feasibility studies and, after 2012, a third phase of construction and operation of a demonstration CCS plant.

Financing agreement for the EU-China Environmental Governance Programme and Financing Agreement of the new Trade Project "Support to China’s sustainable trade and investment system”: Starting from 2010, a total of € 43.75 million will be spent in supporting China in its trade and investment reform process as well as its efforts to protect the environment and to promote local sustainable development.; activities aim to strengthen the design and implementation of trade and investment policy, legislation and regulation at central and provincial level as well as to improve environmental governance by enhancing governmental function, public participation and corporate responsibility.

MoU on Consultation and Cooperation Mechanism on industrial sectors: Establishes a formal dialogue between DG Enterprise and the Chinese created Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Content of the dialogue will be exchange of information and experience, preliminary information about their respective legislative initiatives and the creation of a forum to debate potential or existing difficulties for their respective industry.

MoU on Cooperation Framework on Energy Performance and Quality in the Construction sector: this cooperation framework aims at enabling the European Commission and its Chinese counterpart (The Ministry of Housing and urban-rural development) to carry out concrete cooperation projects energy performance of buildings, policy thinking, operation patterns, technologies, energy-related standards for buildings and norms related to energy performance certification of buildings. This could imply workshop, seminar, training and longer-term projects.

Renewal of the 1999 Science and Technology Agreement: renewal for five years; Between 2007 - 2009 145 Chinese project applications were funded. The total EC contribution for Chinese partners during this period reached a total of almost €20 mio, putting China at the same level as the major EC scientific partners, such as the USA, Russia and India. The areas of EC China scientific interest are mainly focussed on environment, information communication technologies, transport, food agriculture and biotechnologies, health, energy, social sciences and humanities and new materials.

For further information:

http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/china/index_en.htm;

http://www.delchn.ec.europa.eu/

Contact:

Amadeu Altafadj Tardio  　               02/29 52658
Christiane Hohmann                              02/2991196
Anja Fiedler                                            02/2980385