On March 27, 2024, Ambassador Fu Cong, Head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, paid a farewell visit to Oliver Röpke, President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). They had an in-depth exchange of views on China-EU relations, the bilateral cooperation mechanisms, and other issues.

Ambassador Fu said that China and the EU are two major forces, two major markets and two major civilizations. The cooperation between the two sides bears on global stability and prosperity. The recently concluded Two Sessions sent an important message to the world: China will pursue higher-standard opening up and promote mutual benefits. The Chinese economy enjoys strong resilience, tremendous potential and great vitality. The fundamentals sustaining its long-term growth have remained strong. China is willing to work with the EU to leverage and deepen the complementarity of development strategies for common progress. China hopes that the EESC will play an active role and make good use of the important dialogue mechanism of the China-EU Round Table, to make positive contributions to the sound and stable growth of China-EU relations.

Mr. Röpke applauded Ambassador Fu’s fruitful efforts to promote the growth of EU-China relations. He said that the EU values its relations with China and the economic and trade cooperation between the two sides is of great significance. The EESC stands ready to enhance dialogue and communication with China, make the EU-China Round Table a success, and contribute to the development of EU-China relations.

The China-EU Round Table is a mechanism for the civil society dialogue between China and the EU, which was established under the Joint Declaration of the 9th China-EU Summit. The Round Table was launched in 2007 and has held 18 meetings so far.