ReturnBRUSSELS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The China Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (CCCEU) on Tuesday hailed the video meeting between the leaders of the European Union (EU) and China as one that has given impetus to the world economy already weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The meeting has achieved substantive results. The Chinese and EU leaders announced the official signing of the China-EU agreement on geographical indications, stated their commitment to speeding up the negotiations of the China-EU Bilateral Investment Treaty to achieve the goal of concluding the negotiations within this year," CCCEU Chair Zhou Lihong told Xinhua in an interview on Monday.
In their meeting on Monday, Chinese and European leaders also decided to establish a high-level dialogue on environment and climate, and one in the digital field, to build their green partnership and digital cooperative partnership.
"These achievements and consensus have injected stability and certainty into the early recovery of the world economy from recession," Zhou said.
Hailing Monday as a historic day for Sino-EU relations, the chairperson believed the leaders sent clear messages that China and the EU should unswervingly promote the sound and stable development of their comprehensive strategic partnership, adhere to peaceful coexistence, openness and cooperation, multilateralism, as well as dialogue and consultation.
The EU has been China's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, although the place was taken by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the first half of this year due to Brexit and COVID-19.
Despite the decline in trade, both China and the EU show strong willingness to cooperate and invest, Zhou said, noting that the two-way goods transportation has grown consecutively and the number of China-Europe freight trains was in high demand in July.
The railway transportation amounted to 1,232 trips, shipping 113,000 TEUs of goods, up 68 percent and 73 percent year-on-year respectively, with double-digit growth in five consecutive months, he added.
Zhou highlighted the importance of implementing the results made at the summit on the basis of mutual understanding, respect and trust.
Founded in 2018 and representing 1,000 Chinese enterprises in the EU, the CCCEU is a non-profit organization which aims to promote China-EU trade partnership and protect the interests and legitimate rights of the Chinese-funded enterprises.
As of Tuesday, the Brussels-based umbrella group has 65 members. Enditem
