The Chinese commerce and EU trade chiefs are scheduled to hold another round of talks soon, the Global Times has learned, as China and the EU have markedly increased engagements in recent months to strengthen cooperation amid rising turbulence and uncertainty in global trade.
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao will meet EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic on the sidelines of a WTO ministerial meeting in Paris, France in early June, a source familiar with the matter told the Global Times on Monday.
The two sides will conduct in-depth exchanges on the important topic of China-EU economic and trade cooperation, and make preparations for China-EU high-level exchanges, the source said.
China and the EU have seen frequent exchanges between high-level officials and business leaders recently, with China-EU cooperation continuing to gain momentum.
The China-EU Working Group on Financial Cooperation held its second meeting between May 13 and 14 in Brussels. Meanwhile, the 10th China-France High Level Economic and Financial Dialogue was held in France on May 15.
Given the growing protectionism and unilateralism from certain Western countries, it is necessary for China and the EU - both firm supporters of the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core and main force in supporting economic globalization and free trade - to strengthen dialogue and appropriately deal with their differences to push forward their economic relations, which will inject certainty into the world economy amid turbulence, Jian Junbo, director of the Center for China-Europe Relations at Fudan University's Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times.
The upcoming meeting between Wang and Sefcovic will be the third between the two ministers so far in 2025. Since Sefcovic visited China on March 28, the two ministers maintained close communications, conducting extensive and in-depth discussions on issues related to China-EU economic and trade cooperation.
During their last talk via video on April 8, the two sides agreed to start consultation on issues concerning market access at an early date, and immediately start negotiations on electric vehicle pricing commitments as well as issues related to bilateral investment cooperation in the auto sector, according to a statement on the website of China's Ministry of Commerce.
Jian said China and the EU could deepen their cooperation in three aspects including strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation in areas including green economy, artificial intelligence and new energy, maintaining the current dialogue mechanism and appropriately deal with differences, as well as conducting cooperation in global governance.
