At the invitation of ECB President Mr. Jean-Claude Trichet, Governor ZHOU Xiaochuan paid an official visit to the ECB on September 5, 2008, and co-chaired the first PBC-ECB working group meeting at the President/Governor-level. The two parties conducted an in-depth discussion and exchange of views on the US sub-prime crisis, inflation and measures central bankers should take in curbing inflation, the role of central banks in developing financial system and etc. Meanwhile, Governor ZHOU Xiaochuan briefed the reform of the RMB exchange rate regime. At the conclusion of the meeting, the two parties renewed the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation Between the ECB and the PBC.
The PBC-ECB working group, as a bilateral dialogue mechanism between the two central banks, was decided upon and established by the China-EU Summit in November 2007. Since its establishment, two Director General-level meetings have been held successfully.
