A round up of lobbying actions undertaken by the European Chamber during the month of April.

Meeting with Deputy Director-General Guo Jianwei, People’s Bank of China

European Chamber Vice President Jens Ruebbert with Guo Jianwei

On 17^th April, the Banking & Securities Working Group invited Deputy Director-General Guo Jianwei, Monetary Policy II Department of the People’s Bank of China, to take part in an informal and open discussion on cross-border use of the renminbi (RMB). During this meeting Deputy Director-General Guo gave an overview of the steps that have been taken towards internationalisation of the RMB. Other topics that were covered were regarding the Qualified Domestic Individual Investor 2 programme, policy coordination between the People’s Bank of China and the State Administration for Foreign Exchange.

At the end of the meeting, Jens Ruebbert, Vice President of the European Chamber, presented the Deputy Director-General with a copy of the Chamber’s Position Paper 2012/2013 and an invitation to the European Chamber’s Annual Conference, ‘The Road to Reform’.

Seminar on Customs Regulations for the Aviation Industry

Seminar on Customs with General Administration of Customs and Beijing Customs

On 24^thApril the Aerospace Working Group hosted a one-day seminar for officials from the General Administration of Customs and Beijing Customs to discuss custom regulations for the aviation industry. The seminar took place at the Airbus China headquarters in the Beijing Airport Industrial Area. Among other topics, participants discussed the relationship between customs clearance procedures and the speed and cost of repairing and exchanging aircraft components. Presentations were given by Air China, Lufthansa Technik Shenzhen, Thales and Airbus, as well as the General Administration of Customs. Thirty-five people participated in the seminar, including Thorsten Eckhoff, the Vice Chair of the Aerospace Working Group, and 10 officials from China Customs who were led by Ms Zhao Ruxia, Deputy Director-General of the GAC International Department.

DG Sun attends Advisory Council Annual Summit

Dr Sun Yongfu, Director-General of the European Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Dr Sun Yongfu, Director-General of the European Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the Advisory Council Annual Summit on 25^th April. During a speech at the event he congratulated the Chamber’s new leadership and spoke of the strong bilateral trade partnership between EU and China and China’s support for the EU and its single currency. He expressed his wish for continued success for EU companies as a result of China’s economic development, as well as a desire to settle disputes through dialogue. He also emphasised the value of the Chamber’s Position Paper and Business Confidence Survey in helping Chinese policy makers to better understand the sentiments of European companies. He concluded by pledging to keep communication channels open between the Chinese Government and business.

Other lobby activities

On 2nd April, a delegation from the European Chamber led by President Davide Cucino, met with Liu Haixing, Director-General European Affairs Department of the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the first time. During the meeting it was pointed out that both Chinese and European companies operate as informal ambassadors of their own countries when operating abroad. It was in this context that the Chamber proposed to develop more common activities together in order to improve mutual understanding and enhance dialogue.

On 10th April, the European Chamber met with the Far East Unit of DG Trade in order to prepare for a high-level meeting between MofCom and DG Trade. During the meeting both parties briefly discussed the current business environment in China, what can be expected from the new leadership, and an overview of the main policy dialogues between EU and China.

A Southwest Chapter delegation, led by acting Chairman Paul Sives, met with Gou Zhengli, Vice Mayor of Chengdu, on 12^th April to discuss the Fortune Global Forum 2013 (FGF). Yang Yu, Chengdu Municipal Deputy Secretary General, commenced the meeting with a summary of current progress on the FGF preparation, in terms of guest invitations, urban transportation planning, city hardware and software improvement, FGF marketing & promotion, security & logistics support. Mr Sives provided an update on the Chamber’s support for the FGF preparation.