Chinese Ambassador to the European Union Yang Yanyi said here that China looked forward to enhancing cooperation with the EU in scientific technology and innovation.[Special coverage]
She expressed the willingness in a recent interview with EurActiv, an EU based online media organization, as a China-EU leaders' meeting is slated for Monday in Brussels.
Yang said the cooperative areas in innovation could include innovative projects relating to 5G, 5G standards, high-tech innovation, Internet, e-commerce, advanced digital services, cyber security, big data and smart cities and smart energy.
Noting that China and the EU enjoy one of the world's biggest and most dynamic trading relationships, she said that to launch and conclude negotiation on a China-EU Investment Agreement is to provide a simpler and more secure legal framework to investors of both sides and tap the full potential of China-EU cooperation.
"We both agree to accelerate the negotiations so as to achieve substantial progress by the end of this year. During the 17th China-EU Summit, Premier Li Keqiang will exchange views with his European counterparts on this important topic and provide political guidance for future work," she said.
Yang reiterated China's firm stance to protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors, saying that China is improving foreign investment laws and regulations, and exploring a management model for foreign investors with pre-entry national treatment plus the negative list. Measures will also be taken to provide better IPR protection and to safeguard lawful rights and interests of foreign investors and enterprises.
She said that the hard fact and simple truth is European companies are still making profits in China and that European investment in China has been rather dynamic. In the first quarter of this year, investment from 28 EU countries grew by 23.2 percent year-on-year.
She also stressed that the "Belt and Road" initiative and EU's investment plan tabled by European commission President Jean-Claude Juncker enjoy a certain degree of synergy.
Yang said China seeks to combine its comparative advantages in production capacity and equipment manufacturing with advanced technology and management experience of developed countries, to better meet the needs of vast developing countries in infrastructure construction and industrialization, realize mutual benefit and win-win results.
