国内英语资讯:Commentary: China-EU cooperation propelled to new height_时事

国内英语资讯:Commentary: China-EU cooperation propelled to new height

Premier Li Keqiang cautioned in a speech at the EU-China Business Summit on Friday that if all WTO members chose to observe international rules in a selective way, this would trigger cycles of reactions and undercut the foundations of the multilateral order.

"No one will emerge as a winner eventually," he stressed.

Trade and investment are the bedrocks of China-EU relations. The EU is China's largest trading partner and China is the EU's second largest. The average daily trade volume stands at more than 1.69 billion U.S. dollars.

As of March 2017, China's cumulative direct investment in the EU amounted to 73.3 billion dollars, and the EU's cumulative investment in China reached 114.6 billion dollars.

Even with those seemingly striking figures, there is still considerable potentials that remain untapped, especially in investment.

Premier Li pointed out that the EU's investment in China only accounts for 4 percent of the bloc's total overseas investment, and China's investment in the EU only takes up 2 percent of all foreign direct investment flowing to the EU. "This is not commensurate with the size of the two economies," Li said.

Taking stock of this, the two sides viewed the ongoing negotiations on an investment agreement as a top priority.

"The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to speeding up negotiations in a cooperative and pragmatic spirit with a view to reaching an ambitious and balanced outcome as early as possible, in order to establish and maintain a friendly, predictable, business-conducive policy environment for investors from both sides," read the text of of the list of outcomes.