Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-21-Speech-2-070"
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"en.20100921.4.2-070"2
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"Madam President, I am pleased to be here today to discuss the preparations of the 13th EU-China summit. The summit is particularly important this year, as we are celebrating the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the EU and China, and using for the first time the set-up provided by the Lisbon Treaty.
Honourable Members, we all share the goal of China developing further, becoming more open and transparent, adhering to international standards on human rights, welcoming international and European businesses on a level playing field and working together to address global challenges. To achieve this, we must continue to engage and deepen our cooperation. This will allow us to move the relationship further and – on the way – address difficult issues for us and for China.
The October summit provides us with the next opportunity to take stock of our relationship, and to discuss where we want to take it in the coming years.
At last week’s European Council, Heads of State and Government discussed the challenges and opportunities for the EU when dealing with strategic partners such as China. This had been prepared at the informal Gymnich meeting of EU Foreign Ministers that I attended together with HR/VP Ashton and several other Commissioners the weekend before. There is a need and a willingness to act in a more integrated and coherent way. We need to know better what we want from strategic partners and have the same message with 27 voices.
EU-China relations have grown immensely over the last 35 years, in particular, in the economic field. We are important trading partners for each other. European businesses are benefiting from continued growth in China, but more needs to be done to open the Chinese market further and to improve the implementation of rules, for example, in the area of public procurement and intellectual property rights.
This 13th EU-China summit is the first under the post-Lisbon structure. We want to take a forward-looking perspective and act as partners to address global challenges such as climate change, the need to maintain open markets and equal access to raw materials, international stability and the rule of law.
We will look at the role of the various EU-China political and sectoral dialogues. The Partnership and Cooperation Agreement will be discussed, in particular, its dimension to provide a legal and institutional framework for the further development of our partnership.
Human rights are the silver thread of EU foreign policy. Even though significant differences continue, it is important that we discuss human rights and the rule of law during the upcoming summit. We can also build on some concrete positive examples, such as the EU-China law school.
The 13th EU-China summit takes place a few weeks before two crucial international events, namely the G20 summit in Seoul in November and the Climate Change summit in Cancún in December. Finding common ground with China in order to align their position to our priorities would be an important objective of this summit.
It is also important to address misperceptions and to build people-to-people links. A Cultural Forum will therefore be held for the first time in the margins of the summit. That is also why 2011 will be designated Europe-China Year of Youth with the objective of strengthening mutual understanding between European and Chinese youth and promoting intercultural dialogue. This focus will continue in 2012 with the Europe-China Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
The summit follows a very rich year in terms of political dialogue, packed with several important high-level meetings held earlier this year, including the College visit led by President Barroso and Cathy Ashton’s visit to China for the first round of the Strategic Dialogue in early September. A meeting of the High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue is planned for November. Commissioners Almunia, Rehn and myself will lead the EU delegation consisting of several Commissioners."@en1
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