Chinese and European enterprises are optimistic about the prospects of bilateral economic and trade cooperation

Recently, the EU China Chamber of Commerce and PricewaterhouseCoopers China jointly held an online seminar on "the impact of the EU China investment agreement on enterprises and the implementation outlook", and released the Research Report on the implementation outlook of the EU China comprehensive investment agreement jointly drafted by PricewaterhouseCoopers China and the China Council for the promotion of International trade. The report shows that in the survey of more than 500 Chinese and EU enterprises in China, more than 70% of the surveyed enterprises are full of confidence and expectation for the industry development after the EU China investment agreement takes effect.
At the end of 2020, the seven-year China EU investment agreement negotiation was announced to be over, but the relevant approval procedures were unilaterally frozen by the European Parliament, causing anxiety in the business communities of both sides. Many EU enterprises believe that the investment agreement will bring major opportunities for deepening the Chinese market. Therefore, we constantly call for the implementation of the investment agreement as soon as possible. The report also shows that 58% of EU enterprises in China and 46% of Chinese enterprises believe that the signing and entry into force of the agreement will have a positive impact on bilateral investment. In the long run, both China EU manufacturing and service industries will benefit from it.
In response, XuHaifeng, President of the EU China Chamber of Commerce, said that Chinese enterprises in Europe expect the EU China investment agreement to bring a fair and optimized environment for bilateral economic and trade cooperation. Most Chinese enterprises believe that the agreement will facilitate the integration of the bilateral competition system and bring positive benefits to enterprises.
Rud summerhead, managing partner of PwC's China Europe multinational business department, also said that Chinese and European enterprises have high expectations for the signing of the agreement, and believe that its entry into force will bring new development opportunities to enterprises, provide more abundant impetus for the in-depth development of China EU economic and trade cooperation, and bring substantial benefits to the economic and social development and enterprise transformation and upgrading of China and Europe.
In addition, the report also shows that China EU economic and trade cooperation still shows strong resilience and vitality despite the adverse factors such as the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic and the increasing downward pressure on the global economy. According to statistics, the bilateral trade volume between China and the EU will exceed 820billion US dollars in 2021, a record high. China continues to maintain the EU's position as the largest trade partner in goods, while the EU has become China's second largest trade partner in goods. The cumulative scale of China EU two-way investment has exceeded 270billion US dollars. The two sides have active investment and cooperation in finance, new energy, vaccine research and development, logistics and other fields.
Huang Yaohe, managing partner of PWC global cross border services in China, said that China and the EU have always been important trade and investment partners to each other. Although the world economic recovery still faces great uncertainty, China EU economic and trade relations have shown strong resilience. Looking forward to the future, China EU economic and trade cooperation has broad prospects, and strengthening bilateral cooperation will be the general trend.