Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-29-Speech-4-040"
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"en.20050929.5.4-040"2
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".
Mr President, firstly I would like to thank Parliament and the Committee on International Trade for putting this very timely and important issue on the agenda and I would also like to express my personal appreciation to the rapporteur, Ms Lucas, for the report.
For good reason, this report gives special attention to lack of intellectual property rights implementation in China. This report and the public at large are right to say that while we acknowledge China's competitive advantage in particular in labour-intensive production, it is only just that our intellectual property is equally acknowledged and protected. We are not only speaking about CDs and handbags, but also machinery and hi-tech products. China has made progress in adopting adequate IPR laws; we now have to focus on issues of implementation.
The conclusion of a customs cooperation and mutual assistance agreement between the European Commission and China, which entered into force on 1 April 2005, is an important concrete development in this field. The fight against counterfeit and piracy, including the protection of intellectual property rights and security of the international supply chain, are the main EU priorities for closer cooperation in the customs area.
These issues, among others, will be discussed at the first meeting of the joint customs cooperation committee on 14 November 2005. Joint activities are already ongoing in the area of intellectual property rights where a working visit of a team of EU custom experts is scheduled at the invitation of the Chinese customs.
More generally, the newly established EU-China working group on IPR will concentrate on concrete business issues. We stand ready to assist China on this way forward.
Because, as the last OECD report has shown, it is very much in China's own interest, I am grateful that Parliament strongly backs our report on this issue. As an advocate of high social standards the Commission believes it is in the interest of all countries to ratify key ILO conventions and other relevant international agreements.
We believe that high social and environmental standards are fundamental for sustainable development and cooperate with our trading partners to this end in all relevant instances, be they bilateral or multilateral.
The Commission supports China's recent efforts to take greater account of environmental considerations and is actively engaged with China on ways to develop further environmental cooperation including technical assistance in the area of trade and the environment.
We believe the carrot of cooperation to be much more effective than the stick of clauses and conditionality in trade agreements. On several occasions this report mentions the need for in-depth knowledge of opportunities to do business with China. The Commission has taken the initiative and launched a tender for a study and a seminar on the future opportunities and challenges of EU-China trade and investment relations, also comprising ten sectoral analyses.
The result will be presented during a conference in 2006 and will be yet another important input for our way ahead. I also want to mention the prospects of negotiating a new framework agreement with China, reflecting the full breadth and depth of the strategic partnership between China and the European Union. This framework agreement will of course have an important and forward-looking agenda on the trade and investment side.
The Commission highly appreciates this report and sees it as a very valuable contribution to its policy making. China's rise is a challenge, but it is also an opportunity. Both aspects are well reflected in this report. When the report says that Chinese expansion will bring enormous beneficial possibilities but also raises legislative concerns for European industry, I can only agree, and it is in precisely this balance that we have to act.
Let me give you a few facts regarding the latest strengths of our trade relations with China. It is clear that China is a big economy and will gradually become competitive in more and more industrial sectors. Just like the EU or the US, China is likely to produce a broad range of industrial products. The challenge for Europe is not only to trade Airbus planes for tee-shirts, but increasingly to trade similar products within the same sector, so that European firms prosper as a result of their products' distinctiveness and quality. For example, parts of Europe's textile industry remain very competitive. At present Europe's overall trading position remains strong due to its ability to sell upmarket products. The EU is the first exporter of goods and services and the first direct investor abroad.
This is a key point for the linkage between competitiveness and the EU social model. The EU produces value-added upmarket products and can sell them abroad due to settled non-price factors such as innovative features, quality and reputation, continuity over time or related services. However, the EU position is under challenge. The European industry is losing ground in high-technology products. It is trailing behind in several high-tech products, whereas China is rapidly catching up.
The EU position is also at risk due to the geographical orientation of its exports which are strong in countries where demand is static, but less well-positioned in rapidly growing areas such as Asia. It is more a race to the top than a race to the bottom. EU companies cannot afford to miss market opportunities in these dynamic areas which already account for half of world import growth.
Europe's future is to focus on what we do well. The EU has a strong global export profile in high-quality and high-tech products and services which now account for about half of European exports and a third of world demand. However, continued innovation and investment in this comparative advantage is crucial. Better respect and enforcement of intellectual property rights at international level is therefore of the utmost importance.
Addressing barriers to EU exports in third countries also accounts for the bulk of the potential to improve the competitive position of EU industry. The EU stands to win from the further opening of markets worldwide. By negotiating the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers and promoting regulatory dialogues with our trading partners where appropriate, the EU can open new markets for its exporters. Therefore the Commission's Lisbon Strategy, the strategy of growth, jobs and competitiveness set out last February, rests on three pillars: opening markets to drive productivity and innovation; investing in education and research to enable us to compete; and reforming labour markets and welfare states to get people into jobs, improve employability and skills and extend opportunities to those whom economic developments are leaving behind.
We acknowledge the efforts China has undertaken to implement its WTO commitments as it enters into its fifth and last year of transition after its accession. We also have to make clear that unsolved issues have to be addressed.
In sectors such as automotives, telecom and banking there is a clear call for action on the Chinese side to get fully in line with its commitments. On our side we must use the whole range of instruments at hand to push these cases forward both bilaterally and multilaterally."@en1
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