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China tightens trade ties with EU newcomers
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-06-08 11:27
With ten new member states and a total population of 455 million, the
European Union (EU), already China's second largest trade partner before the
expansion, is attracting more and more Chinese businesses.
Figures from the Chinese customs showed that the trade volume between China
and the ten new EU members registered a 50.2-percent increase in 2003 on a
year-on-year basis to US$7.65 billion and the figure rose by 49 percent in the
first four months this year to US$3.29 billion.
"We will encourage Chinese enterprises to increase investment and set up
factories in the central and east European nations so as to improve bilateral
economic and trade ties with the area," an official from the Ministry of
Commerce said.
Meanwhile, experts said Chinese President Hu Jintao's upcoming visits to
Poland, Hungary and Romania will certainly push forward the bilateral trade
cooperation between China and those countries.
The latest EU expansion, which took place on May 1, 2004, admitted ten new
members -- Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta,
Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Among the ten new EU members, Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic are China's
major trade partners, taking 80 percent of the total trade volume between China
and the ten countries. The trade volume between China and Romania, which is
waiting to join the European Union, grew nearly 30 percent in 2003 year-on-year
to US$1 billion.
Experts said that with the new expansion of the European Union, the GDP of
the bloc is to expected to increase from the present US$9 trillion to about
US$10 trillion, which will certainly provide new business opportunities for
European Union's trade partners including China.
In addition, the overall tariff of the new EU members will be reduced from
nine percent to four percent, and the investment environment and market demands
of the new members will also be further improved.
However, experts warned that the expansion may also bring about new problems
to the trade between China and the ten new EU members, including increased
tariff on certain products due to the common trade policy within the European
Union, and other obstacles like export quota and technical trade barriers.
To minimize problems and expand trade cooperation, officials from the China's
Ministry of Commerce said they will take measures to enhance exchanges between
the medium and small-sized enterprises of the two sides and the ministry will
also ask the European Union to make certain adjustment in line with the
regulations of the World Trade Organization.
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