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Ambassador Liu Xiaoming Attends the 10th Sino-European Entrepreneurs Summit and Delivers a Keynote Speech

On June 10, Ambassador Liu Xiaoming Attended the 10th Sino-European Entrepreneurs Summit and delivered a keynote speech entitled Join Hands to Meet the Challenges, Create New Opportunities and Build a Shared Future. Graham Stuart MP, Minister for Investment at the Department for International Trade, the Rt Hon. Lord Garnier QC, former Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office), Long Yongtu, Co-chairman of The Sino-International Entrepreneurs Federation, and more than 300 representatives of the Chinese and European business communities were present.

Ambassador Liu expressed his appreciation for the contribution that the China-European Entrepreneur Summit has made to deepening China-Europe and China-UK relations and promoting friendly cooperation. He shared his views on the challenges and opportunities that China-Europe Business cooperation may face in the new era from three perspectives: global environment, China-Europe cooperation, and China-UK relations. He pointed out that the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century. The setback caused by the unilateralism and protectionism is seriously affecting the international economic order and multilateral trading system. A big Western power, adopting bullying trade policies and protectionist measures, not only disrupts the global industrial chain and supply chain and undermines the authority of the WTO and its dispute settlement system, but also thwarts the momentum of world economic recovery, holds back the growth of enterprises and affects people all over the world.

"China always believes that there is no winner in a trade war. Dialogue and consultation are the right way forward. For the severe setbacks in China-US trade talks, the US should bear full responsibility, because it has gone against consensus and broken promises during the talks", said the Ambassador. "China's position and attitude in the trade talks is consistent and clear: China is always open for talks, but we would fight to the end should a 'trade war' break out."

Ambassador Liu noted that China and Europe share broad consensus on major issues such as improving global economic governance, upholding multilateralism and advocating free trade, and have a solid foundation for cooperation. To translate this consensus into real growth, China and Europe should work together in the following three aspects: to enhance mutual trust and consolidate the consensus of ideas, to work together on rules setting and take the lead in innovation-driven industrial upgrading, and to strengthen open cooperation and share development opportunities.

The Ambassador noted that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is also the 65th anniversary of the establishment of China-UK diplomatic relationship at the level of chargé d'affaires. China-UK relationship is faced with a new situation and new opportunities. China and the UK should stay confident in the steady and sustained development of the China-UK "Golden Era", make decisions independently in order to foster an open, transparent and fair business environment, and keep the long-term interests and big picture in mind so as to create favourable conditions for China-UK relations after Brexit.

In closing, Ambassador Liu said, "I sincerely hope that entrepreneurs from China, the UK and Europe could join hands to meet the challenges in the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. I hope you would stay confident in our cooperation and take concrete actions to translate opportunities into mutually-beneficial results. Together, we could create a prosperous future for China-UK relations and together, we could build a new era for China-Europe cooperation!"

Chairman Long Yongtu thanked the participants for their strong support to the Summit and noted that the current global economy is in a period of adjustment and reform. The Chinese and European business communities need to strengthen mutual trust and learning, and deepen win-win cooperation. Britain is well-known for its freedom and openness, while Europe owns an open and innovative entrepreneurial spirit and well-developed manufacturing and service industries. With their complementary economies and consensus on jointly maintaining the multilateral trading system and exploring third-party markets, China and Europe would have broad prospects for cooperation.

Minister Stuart and Lord Garnier spoke highly of the sound momentum of China-UK relations and cooperation, saying that facing the complex and volatile world economic situation, the UK would continue to work for free trade, oppose protectionism, and promote economic globalization. It would continue to open its door to welcome foreign investment. The UK-China trade relationship would continue to prosper and the friendship between the two peoples would also grow stronger. They hoped that Ambassador Liu's speech would offer a key to promoting cooperation and friendship.

The participants of the Summit also had in-depth exchanges on issues such as China's opening up, the global economic environment, China-Europe financial cooperation, cities of the future, industrial transformation, and technological innovation.

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The Sino-International Entrepreneurs Federation, founded in 2008, is committed to increasing interactions and exchanges between Chinese and foreign governments and enterprises and promoting business innovation and cooperation. Each year, it hosts the Sino-European Entrepreneurs Summit in major European cities to discuss the international development strategies of enterprises and promote inclusive economic growth through summits, visits to companies, industry committees, business matching, and social activities, etc. So far, the Summit has had nine successful sessions in countries, such as Britain, France and Switzerland.

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