London, UK (CWBN)_ China and the EU conducted the 35th round of talks on the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) earlier this month. It is expected that a bilateral treaty that will replace the 26 current bilateral investment treaties establishing a uniform legal basis for investment relations between the EU and China.
The need for this agreement was triggered by increased cooperation between China and the EU, as well as the high volumes of bilateral trade and investment, particularly to China, which are making the urgency of common values and rules increasingly evident.
Bloomberg reported that Eurostat reports indicated approximately EUR 198 billion (US$ 242 billion) worth of goods exported to China in 2019 and EUR 362 billion (US$ 442 billion) worth of goods imported from China.
Moreover, in 2019 Chinese foreign direct investment in the EU began to fall, representing the global decline in Chinese outbound investment. However China came in as the second largest FDI recipient while the US came in first, as per Rhodium Group. About US$1.6 billion in FDI ventures were announced by EU companies in China over the fourth quarter of this year.
