Investment

On July 7， the Ministry of Commerce held the regular press conference， and the spokesman Shan Danyang responded some hot and sensitive issues focused by the media domestic and overseas as what follows below：

Premier Li Keqiang has just finished his third visit to Europe of this year， and has gained a series of economic and trade achievements. What are the new highlights of ChinaEU economic and trade cooperation？

In recent years， the political mutual trust between China and EU was continuously strengthened， creating a favorable atmosphere for the healthy and stable development of the economics and trade of the two parties. At present， there are three highlights of China-EU economic and trade cooperation：

Firstly， the strategic matchmaking of economic and trade cooperation was speeded up. At present， China is discussing with EU the docking plan between the initiation of “One Belt and One Road” and the strategic investment plan of EU with 315 billion Euro， in order to promote China-EU capacity cooperation， which is an important issue of Premier Li Keqiangs visit to Europe this time. For example， “Made in China 2025”and “German Industry 4.0”， “New Industrial France” and “Made in Britain 2050” all stressed the industrial transformation and upgrading. And the “Connectivity between China and EU” proposed by China enjoyed great commonality with the infrastructure construction projects like the construction of Pan-Europe transportation network， China-EU SeaLand Express Way and the new Eurasia Land Bridge. Besides， “Internet +”could realize the mutual promotion with the construction of the European single digit market and the construction of the smart city of Europe. The promotion of profound matchmaking of China and EU during their own reform will create huge opportunities for the development of bilateral economic and trade relation.

Secondly， Chinas investment to Europe speeded up. According to Chinas statistics， Chinas non-financial investment to Europe reached 4.21 billion dollars in January-May this year， with the growth rate over 367.8%， marking that Chinas investment to Europe has entered into the stage of rapid growth. Large projects invested by Chinese enterprises in Europe sprung up. For example， large projects with the amount over 100 million Euros like China National Chemical Corporation purchasing Pireli tire increased gradually. At the same time， the Chinese investment sectors in Europe was continuously broadened， covering many sectors including engineering machinery， automobile， real estate， shipping， telecommunication， energy and finance.

Thirdly， the financial cooperation enjoyed a good prospect. It released an active signal to strengthen financial cooperation with China that EU countries like the UK， France， Germany and Italy entered into Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and EU welcomed China to participate in the European Strategic Investment Plan. During Premier Li Keqiangs visit to Europe， Chinas financial organizations signed several cooperation agreements with European countries， and practical cooperation among enterprises was continuously deepened. During his visit to Europe， Premier Li Keqiang proposed that the two parties should make good use of the interchange mechanism of more than 700 billion RMB， play the role of the 4 RMB Clearing Banks in Europe， and optimize the system of RQFII， all of which will create more convenient conditions for China-EU economic and trade cooperation.

Chinas economic and trade cooperation with countries alongside“One Belt and One Road” gains great concerns. Could you introduce us the latest development in January-May this year？

In January-May this year， Chinas economic and trade cooperation with countries alongside “One Belt and One Road” has been continuously deepened， and has gained active progress in all fields. I will brief you the main conditions of the cooperation in the fields of foreign trade， foreign investment attraction， investment abroad， contracted projects in foreign countries and labor service cooperation.

In terms of foreign trade， in January-May， the bilateral trade volume between China and countries alongside reached 398.38 billion dollars， down 9.5% year on year， accounting for 25.8% of the total import and export in the same period. Export of China to the countries alongside reached 243.95 billion dollars， up 2%， accounting for 27.7% of Chinas total export； Chinas import from the countries alongside reached 154.43 billion dollars， down 23.2%， accounting for 23.3% of the total import.

In terms of foreign investment attraction， in January-May， 767 enterprises invested by countries alongside“One Belt and One Road” were set in China， up 14.31% year on year； the actual foreign capital input reached 2.919 billion dollars， up 11.59% year on year， accounting for 5.42% of the total foreign investment. The actual foreign capital input from Singapore was 2.386 billion dollars， up 5.40% year on year， accounting for 81.74% of the total input of the countries alongside. Besides， the actual foreign capital input from Saudi Arabia was 0.239 billion dollars， accounting for 8.19%； and that from Malaysia was 83 million dollars， accounting for 2.84%.

In terms of direct investment abroad， in January-May， Chinas enterprises invested directly in 48 countries/ regions alongside “One Belt and One Road” with the investment volume reaching 4.86 billion dollars， up 3.7% year on year. The main investment countries include Singapore， Indonesia， Laos and Russia. Up to the end of May this year， Chinas investment to the 64 countries and regions alongside “One Belt and One Road” reached 161.2 billion dollars， accounting for 20% of Chinas total direct investment abroad.

On contracted projects overseas. In January-May， Chinese enterprises undertook a total of 1，105 contracted projects overseas in 59 countries along the“Silk and Road” with newly-signed contract value of 25.1 billion dollars， taking up 48.6% of Chinas total newly-signed contract value over the same period of time， going up 19.1% year on year. The turnover registered 22.7 billion dollars， taking up 44% of the total， going up 4.5% year on year. By the end of May， Chinas newly-signed contract value with 64 countries and regions along the “Silk and Road” accumulated to 617.9 billion dollars， with a turnover of 424.4 billion dollars， taking up 43.2% and 43% of the total respectively.

On foreign labor service cooperation. In January-May， the labor service personnel dispatched overseas to 55 countries and regions along the “Silk and Road” reached 80，000. At the end of May， the number reached 312，000， taking up 31.2% of Chinas total number of labor service personnel dispatched overseas. By the end of May， the combined number of labor service personnel dispatched to countries along the Silk and Road totaled 2，803，000， taking up 36.4% of the total .

After the 7th round of ChinaUS Strategic and Economic Dialogue， what is the new progress of the ChinaUS bilateral investment agreement negotiations？ Have the both sides already defined the timetable to reach this agreement？

In the 4th China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in 2008， both sides officially started the investment agreement negotiations. 19 rounds of negotiations have already been held so far.

In the 6th China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in 2014， both sides set the goal of “striving to reach an agreement on the core issues and the main items of the agreement text by the end of 2014 and exchanging the negative list in the early 2015 and launching the negative list negotiations”. At present， both sides have basically completed the working goal of text negotiations and reached an agreement on the core issues and the main items of the agreement text. In June 8-June 12， the 19th Round of China-US Investment Agreement Negotiations was held in Beijing. Both sides first exchanged the bid of their own negative list during this round of negotiations and officially launched the negative list negotiations， marking that the negotiations entered a new stage.

In June 23-24， during the period of the 7th Round of China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue， both sides agreed to continue to positively promote the ChinaUS Investment Agreement Negotiations. In this round of negotiations， both sides used the word “milestone” to describe the significant progress of the first exchange of the negative list bid and agreed to exchange the bid in the early September this year again. Although both sides didnt set a timetable for the negotiations， they will continue to positively accelerate promoting the negotiations according to the consensuses reached by the leaders of the two countries to reach a win-win and high-level agreement soon.