As Europe continued its recovery from the global economic crisis, China-EU economic and trade relations were further boosted in 2010. Despite trade frictions and disputes, officials and businesses saw great potential in future ties.
TRADE TIES ADVANCED TO PRE-CRISIS LEVEL
Latest data from EU statistical bureau Eurostat showed that from January to September, the EU's exports to China reached 82.3 billion euros (107.8 billion U.S. dollars), up by 39 percent compared with the same period in 2009. And the EU's imports from China grew by 30 percent, standing at 204.5 (267.8 billion dollars) billion euros.
According to statistics from China, during the first 10 months of this year, China-EU trade reached 433.9 billion U.S. dollars, gaining by 33 percent compared with the corresponding period of 2009. The figure is 10 percent higher than that of the same period in 2008, before the international financial crisis broke out.
Besides the increase in trade, two-way investment also grew steadily in volume and expanded to various sectors. China's statistics showed that the EU invested 5.1 billion dollars in China in the first 10 months this year.
EU businesses are widening their investment from the traditional manufacturing sector to such sectors as service and risk investments. [ China's direct investment in Europe grew by more than five times in the first three quarters of this year and more Chinese companies are looking to invest in Europe.
Song Zhe, head of the Chinese mission to the EU, attributed the notable increase in bilateral trade and investment to the economic complementarity of the two sides.
"Although the shadow of the international financial crisis has never left us and the world on the whole is still going through a slow recovery, the economic complementarity, mutual benefit, and win-win progress between China and Europe have constituted an important basis for the fast growth and achievements of our economic and trade cooperation," Song told the European Parliament in earlier December.
He said close communication and strong policy coordination to maintain open markets also played an important part in the advancing of bilateral economic ties, citing the 13th China-EU Summit and the 6th China-EU Business Summit in October as an example.
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TRADE TIES ADVANCED TO PRE-CRISIS LEVEL
Latest data from EU statistical bureau Eurostat showed that from January to September, the EU's exports to China reached 82.3 billion euros (107.8 billion U.S. dollars), up by 39 percent compared with the same period in 2009. And the EU's imports from China grew by 30 percent, standing at 204.5 (267.8 billion dollars) billion euros.
According to statistics from China, during the first 10 months of this year, China-EU trade reached 433.9 billion U.S. dollars, gaining by 33 percent compared with the corresponding period of 2009. The figure is 10 percent higher than that of the same period in 2008, before the international financial crisis broke out.
Besides the increase in trade, two-way investment also grew steadily in volume and expanded to various sectors. China's statistics showed that the EU invested 5.1 billion dollars in China in the first 10 months this year.
EU businesses are widening their investment from the traditional manufacturing sector to such sectors as service and risk investments. [ China's direct investment in Europe grew by more than five times in the first three quarters of this year and more Chinese companies are looking to invest in Europe.
Song Zhe, head of the Chinese mission to the EU, attributed the notable increase in bilateral trade and investment to the economic complementarity of the two sides.
"Although the shadow of the international financial crisis has never left us and the world on the whole is still going through a slow recovery, the economic complementarity, mutual benefit, and win-win progress between China and Europe have constituted an important basis for the fast growth and achievements of our economic and trade cooperation," Song told the European Parliament in earlier December.
He said close communication and strong policy coordination to maintain open markets also played an important part in the advancing of bilateral economic ties, citing the 13th China-EU Summit and the 6th China-EU Business Summit in October as an example.
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