EU-China Forum helps groups find trade, investment opportunities

World Today

More than 200 business leaders, politicians, and academics attended the Fourth Europe China Forum in Brussels seeking ways to boost cooperation through trade and investment. Europe and China have one of the world’s largest trade relationships, but bilateral foreign investment remains minuscule.

“It’s untapped potential. There is so much these countries could be doing together. European-American investments are way ahead of what China do in terms of investment growth so there is a vast potential here and I think an investment treaty that is being negotiated could really give a boost to this relationship,” said Shada Islam director of policy at the think tank, Friends of Europe.

EU-China ties were at the top of the agenda, but the heart of the discussions focused on how China will maintain its economic momentum. The International Monetary Fund believes China may have already surpassed the U.S. in terms of the purchasing power of citizens in each country. But the U.S. still leads in terms of overall gross domestic product and per capita GDP. China ranks 89th, according to the IMF.

“The challenges that China faces are absolutely immense in terms of its economic growth. It’s been fueled by exports and now it really has to change and shift to consumer demand,” Islam said.

“I think people have to move towards service industries. Growth has to come from innovation. Growth has to come from renewable energies, from the digital economy, so all of these things are major challenges for China’s leaders.”