investmentGATEWAY

The Foreign Affairs Council on 18 October 2013 focussed on EU trade issues, including mandates for investment agreement negotiations with China and with ASEAN countries

Ministers approved a mandate for the Commission to start negotiating an investment agreement with China on behalf of the EU. An EU-China investment agreement will, among other things, improve the protection of EU investments in China and reduce barriers to investment in China.

This will help increase investment flows between the EU and China, and improve access to Chinese markets. Negotiations on the agreement should be completed within 2.5 years.

The Council also approved an updated mandate allowing the Commission to open negotiations on investment protection provisions with the ASEAN countries. This will be carried out as part of on-going free trade negotiations with the ASEAN countries (specifically Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand). 

Council approves launch of investment talks with China

The Council has adopted a mandate for the Commission to negotiate on behalf of the EU an investment agreement with China.

The mandate is composed of a decision of the Council and a decision of the representatives of the member states authorising the opening of negotiations, as well as directives for the negotiation of the agreement. The directives foresee an agreement that would deal both with investment protection and with improved access to the market for investors from the EU and China.

The main objectives of an agreement would be an enhanced protection of EU investments in China and vice versa, improved legal certainty regarding the treatment of EU investors in China, reduction of barriers to investing in China and, as a result, increasing bilateral investment flows and improved access to the Chinese market. The aim would be to complete negotiations no later than two and a half years after they have started.

Investment, along with market access, procurement and intellectual property, has been identified by the European Council as an area on which the EU-China trade agenda should focus in the short term.

EU-China trade

China is now the EU’s 2^nd trading partner, behind the United States, and the EU is China’s biggest trading partner. Every day, China and Europe now trade well over €1 billion.

• EU imports from China are dominated by industrial and consumer goods, such as machinery, footwear, clothing, furniture, lamps and toys
• EU exports to China are concentrated on machinery and equipment, cars, aircraft and chemicals.

However, China accounts for just 2-3% of overall European investments abroad, whereas Chinese investments in Europe are rising, but from an even lower starting point.

Other topics on the agenda

This meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council also looked at:

• preparations for trade aspects of the Eastern Partnership Summit, taking place in Vilnius on 28-29 November 2013;
• the EU's strategy and preparations for the forthcoming WTO ministerial meeting in Bali on 3-6 December;
• Chinese anti-dumping measures on wine;

In preparation for informal discussions, or ‘trilogues’, with the European Parliament, ministers also discussed a proposed regulation to establish a legal and financial framework for investor-state dispute settlement proceedings.

See also

EU-China trade

EU-ASEAN trade

Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference, Bali

The 3rd Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius