China, EU hold 16th bilateral financial dialogue in Brussels

China's Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min co-chaired the 16th China-EU Financial Dialogue with EU officialsin Brussels, Belgium on Monday, according to a statement on China's Ministry of Finance (MOFCOM) on Wednesday. The two sides had in-depth discussion on topics including macroeconomic situation and policies of China and the EU, cooperation under the G20 framework, as well as collaborations on audit supervision and government procurement.

EU officials attended the dialogue include Maarten Verwey, directorate-general for European Commission’s Economic and Financial Affairs and Alexandra Jour-Schroeder, directorate-general for European Commission’s Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union.

Liao stated that China is willing to work with the EU to actively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two economies, jointly uphold multilateralism and the multilateral trading system and oppose unilateralism and protectionism, thereby providing greater certainty to an uncertain global economy, the MOFCOM statement noted.

Liao emphasized that China values financial and economic cooperation with the EU and is committed to strengthening bilateral collaboration under frameworks such as the G20 and multilateral development banks. China also seeks to deepen practical cooperation with the EU in financial areas such as audit supervision and government procurement to support both sides in achieving their respective development goals.

China is “willing to engage with the EU side in a spirit of mutual respect and win-win cooperation, properly manage frictions and differences through dialogue and consultations, so as to promote the sound and stable development of China-EU economic relations,” said the statement.

The EU representatives also took note of the key role of the China-EU Financial Dialogue mechanism in enhancing macroeconomic policy coordination and promoting financial and economic cooperation between China and the EU in the past 20 years.

EU officials stressed that in a world full of uncertainties, China and the EU–as two major economies– should strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination and work together to address global challenges such as climate change and debt issues in developing countries. They noted that the bloc is willing to enhance dialogue and consultations with China, engage in equal and mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote the stable and balanced development of China-EU economic relations to achieve win-win outcomes.

Relevant departments from both sides also held a department-level working meeting on government procurement, engaging in in-depth discussions on topics such as the EU’s International Procurement Instrument, China’s accession to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, and China-EU cooperation in government procurement.