EUROPE: Commission to begin EU foreign investment talks with China

Friday October 18 2013

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

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