The 11
th EU-China Summit will take place in Prague on 20 May 2009.The European Union will be represented by the President of the Czech Republic, Mr. Václav Klaus and the President of the European Commission, Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso, accompanied by Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Walder as well as Commissioner for Trade Baroness Catherine Ashton. Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council of the People's Republic of China will lead the Chinese delegation. The Summit will address global issues like the financial and economic crisis and climate change as well as EU-China relations and other international issues.
Prior to the Summit, President Jose Manuel Barroso said: “We will continue our open and constructive dialogue, building on the successful visit of Premier Wen to Brussels at the end of January. Both, the EU and China are committed to our comprehensive strategic partnership. At the same time China is a crucial partner in international efforts to counter global challenges, such as the economic and financial crisis and climate change.”.
Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner added:" Our relationship is developing every day and the negotiations on a new agreement are progressing well. We are interested in deepening our dialogue with China on all issues, including those where we do not always share the same views. We encourage China to continue playing an active role for the promotion of international peace and security in the region and beyond".
Commissioner for Trade, Catherine Ashton emphasized: " An open and fair environment for trade and investment is vital if we are to recover from this economic crisis. The European Union and China emphasised at our High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue less than two weeks ago that we are working together to keep our markets open and reach a swift conclusion to the Doha Round."
The Summit will take stock of the rapid expansion of the relationship since the first Summit in 1998 and reaffirm the joint determination to strengthen cooperation in all areas but particularly in addressing global challenges.
The Summit can build on the visit of Premier Wen to EC Headquarters on 30 January and the visit of Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner to China on 29-30 March as well as the successful holding of the High Level and Economic and Trade Dialogue in Brussels on 7-8 May.
The following agreements will be signed during the Summit: China-Europe Science and Technology Partnership (CESTY), a Joint Statement on the Europe-China Clean Energy Center (EC2), the EU-China Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Cooperation- Points of Consensus and a Memorandum of Understanding on China-EU High-tech Trade Working Group between the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and the Directorate-General for Trade of the European Commission.
During the Summit, China and the EU will underline their commitment to demonstrating Near Zero Emissions Coal (NZEC) technology using carbon capture and geological storage. Next month, the European Commission will propose a plan for the financial support of the project and it envisages facilitating information exchange between NZEC and European CCS demonstration projects through the European CCS project network. As part of a range of low carbon technologies, CCS can play an important role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, both for Europe, where a network of up to 12 demonstration projects is planned, and in China. The EU and China also hope the NZEC project can act as a possible model for other bilateral and multilateral technology cooperation projects in the context of the UNFCCC Copenhagen agreement.