On 30 December, negotiations between the European Union and China concluded on the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), a bilateral investment agreement aimed at strengthening and expanding economic cooperation between the two parties.

This agreement represents a significant turning point, as the Chinese market is of great interest to both Lombardy-based businesses and our national economy: according to Eurostat, in the first ten months of 2020, the volume of trade between the EU and China reached 477 billion euros, an increase of 2.2% compared to the same period in 2019.

The Agreement aims to create new business opportunities for European companies across various sectors, including telecommunications, manufacturing and automotive, and to facilitate business access to both European and Chinese markets.

Furthermore, in areas such as transparency, predictability and certainty of investment conditions, China is expected to commit to greater regulation of state-owned enterprises, to ensure greater transparency regarding the granting of subsidies in the services sector and to introduce rules against the forced transfer of technology.

Finally, regarding climate, health and labour issues, China is expected to ratify several International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, and to commit to the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.

The text of the agreement must still be finalised by the parties and subsequently submitted to the European Parliament and the Council for approval.

Attached is the factsheet published by the European Commission on this matter, containing the key points of the agreement reached.

Attachments

• pdf_file.pdf