Mandelson reaches consensus during EU-China trade talks

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BRUSSELS, June 14 (CEIS): Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson reached consensus on a number of issues, including textiles, during Tuesday's annual China-EU trade talks, it was revealed yesterday.
The Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between China and the European Union (EU) was top of the agenda, according to a press release issued by Bo's delegation.
"It is of vital significance to reach the consensus on the PCA, because it would help forge a stable and predictable legal foundation for EU-China trade as well as enterprises from both sides," said the press release.
"We have also finally agreed the terms of reference for the negotiation of the update of the 1985 economic trade and investment agreement between the EU and China and we will be starting substantive discussions on that," Mandelson told a press conference after the talks.
On textiles, the EU and China agreed to liberalise bilateral textile trade in 2008.
"Both sides have agreed to abide by the 2005 Shanghai textiles agreement and implement free textile trade in due time," said the press release.
In June 2005, following the so-called "textile war" between China and the EU, Bo Xilai and Peter Mandelson reached an agreement in Shanghai on resuming quotas on China's textile exports to the EU by 2007.
The press release said the EU and China will continue dialogue and cooperation on textiles so as to maintain the steady and smooth development of bilateral textile trade.
Mandelson told reporters that both sides were able to acknowledge and welcome the successful operation of the 2005 Shanghai textiles agreement.
"We were both cognizant of the-if I can put it in this way-re-entry problems of the return to normal trade and we agreed that we wanted to avoid any destabilisation of the market," he said.
"For our part our automatic licencing system will continue through 2008 so we can continue to monitor market developments and discuss jointly with Chinese authorities any actions that we need to take to ensure a smooth transition from the textiles agreement to normal trading," he added.
Besides, the EU also promised that the European Commission would table a proposal to ask all EU member states to lift the ban on the imports of China's processed poultry.
The press release said the EU has assured the Chinese side of the proposal, vowing to resume normal trade in the near future. However, no date has been set.
The EU imposed the ban on imports of China's processed poultry following the outbreak of bird flu in the Chinese mainland in 2004.
According to the EU's rules, the European Commission's proposal needs to be approved by a meeting of representatives from all EU member states.
On China's market economy status (MES), an issue the Chinese side has long put pressure on the EU about, the EU has promised to work "constructively" with China on it.
Bo told reporters that the market economy is diversified and there is no fixed model or criteria for it.
China has scored remarkable achievements on building up the system for the market economy and China should be recognised as a full market economy, the minister said.
Mandelson was quoted as saying by the press release that the EU has noted the achievements China has made, which have been written into the updated assessment report presented by Mandelson's office.
"The European Commission noted and welcomed Chinese efforts to meet MES criteria, concluded that China has met one of the five technical criteria for MES, and proposed steps to China that will help make progress on the remaining four criteria," said Mandelson's office.
On the trade deficit the EU side has complained about for so long, Bo urged the EU side to open the door to exporting high-tech goods to China.
On the sharp increase of steel imports from China, Bo said the Chinese side has no intention of seeking a large amount of steel exports to the EU. Instead, he said, China has made concerted efforts to curb exports of products with high-energy consumption and high consumption of natural resources.
The two sides agreed to hold informal talks on the issue at the end of June or in early July, according to the press release.