A long awaited business investment deal will soon be reached between the European Union and China, claimed reports quoting sources with knowledge of the matter.
The reports claimed that the deal will be finalised within this current week and will help in granting companies of the EU greater access to the Chinese market while also helping to improve competition conditions for EU companies in China.
Even though negotiation on this deal had started in 2014, they had been held up because of the number of issues that had cropped up between the two parties.
But officials quoted in the reports said that a change in the Chinese position was probably prompted by the increase trade tensions between China and the United States.
This deal, it achieved, will follow another land mark deal on trade achieved by the EU _ the post Brexit deal on trade with the United Kingdom which was announced just a few days ago on December 24.
Companies of the EU will have much greater access to China's manufacturing sector as well as the construction, advertising, air transport and telecoms sector of the second largest economy of the world after the completion of the deal, according to multiple reports.
China had been demanding greater access to the energy market of the EU which had become one of the major sticking points in the negotiations of the deal because of national security concerns of the EU related to the sector. China will gain access to a small part of the European renewable energy sector as a compromise by the EU, under the deal.
Other benefits expected from the deal include reduction of other barriers creating impediments of European investments in China such as joint-venture requirements and a cap on foreign investments for some industries.
After the deal is struck between the two parties, the European parliament will have to ratify the deal which, according to experts, may not start until the second half of 2021.
Progress on the negotiations of the deal with Beijing, including the core issue of workers' rights in China, was reported by the European Commission on Monday.
However this issue is a contentious one because of reports that have emerged in recent times from China about the government using Uighur Muslims, detained in large numbers in the Xinjiang province, as forced labour. Such reports and allegations have been denied by China.
The EU has asked China to a pledge to sticking to the International Labour Organisation's rules on forced labour under the agreement. Experts also say that there can be friction with the incoming administration of United States president-elect Joe Biden because of the EU-China deal. A transatlantic strategy w3as published by the EU earlier this month in which the EU urged the US to collaborate with it to address the "strategic challenge" posed by China.
A long drawn and acrimonious trade war is continuing between the US and China since the middle of 2018 and a number of Chinese tech companies have been identified and targeted as threats to national security by the Trump administration.
And the relationship between the EU and China has been under strain this year because of the imposition of a new and sweeping national security law in Hong Kong and over charges of Beijing spreading disinformation about the coronavirus.
(Source:www.bbc.com)
The reports claimed that the deal will be finalised within this current week and will help in granting companies of the EU greater access to the Chinese market while also helping to improve competition conditions for EU companies in China.
Even though negotiation on this deal had started in 2014, they had been held up because of the number of issues that had cropped up between the two parties.
But officials quoted in the reports said that a change in the Chinese position was probably prompted by the increase trade tensions between China and the United States.
This deal, it achieved, will follow another land mark deal on trade achieved by the EU _ the post Brexit deal on trade with the United Kingdom which was announced just a few days ago on December 24.
Companies of the EU will have much greater access to China's manufacturing sector as well as the construction, advertising, air transport and telecoms sector of the second largest economy of the world after the completion of the deal, according to multiple reports.
China had been demanding greater access to the energy market of the EU which had become one of the major sticking points in the negotiations of the deal because of national security concerns of the EU related to the sector. China will gain access to a small part of the European renewable energy sector as a compromise by the EU, under the deal.
Other benefits expected from the deal include reduction of other barriers creating impediments of European investments in China such as joint-venture requirements and a cap on foreign investments for some industries.
After the deal is struck between the two parties, the European parliament will have to ratify the deal which, according to experts, may not start until the second half of 2021.
Progress on the negotiations of the deal with Beijing, including the core issue of workers' rights in China, was reported by the European Commission on Monday.
However this issue is a contentious one because of reports that have emerged in recent times from China about the government using Uighur Muslims, detained in large numbers in the Xinjiang province, as forced labour. Such reports and allegations have been denied by China.
The EU has asked China to a pledge to sticking to the International Labour Organisation's rules on forced labour under the agreement. Experts also say that there can be friction with the incoming administration of United States president-elect Joe Biden because of the EU-China deal. A transatlantic strategy w3as published by the EU earlier this month in which the EU urged the US to collaborate with it to address the "strategic challenge" posed by China.
A long drawn and acrimonious trade war is continuing between the US and China since the middle of 2018 and a number of Chinese tech companies have been identified and targeted as threats to national security by the Trump administration.
And the relationship between the EU and China has been under strain this year because of the imposition of a new and sweeping national security law in Hong Kong and over charges of Beijing spreading disinformation about the coronavirus.
(Source:www.bbc.com)
