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Spotlight: Business leaders, former officials urge China, U.S. to complete investment treaty talks

Xinhua, May 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Business leaders and former senior officials of China and the United States on Thursday urged the two countries to complete their investment treaty talks as soon as possible.

In a joint statement released after the eighth meeting for the China-U.S. CEO and Former Senior Officials' Dialogue wrapped up here, the two sides called for macroeconomic policy coordination, resistance against investment and trade protectionism, and completing the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) talks as soon as possible to move forward the China-U.S. economic relationship.

Both sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the areas of technology innovation, the Belt and Road initiative, sustainable development as well as health care, according to the statement after the annual meeting co-chaired by Zeng Peiyan, a former Chinese vice premier and chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, and Thomas Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The two sides held candid discussions on wide-ranging economic issues in the two-day meeting, including the economic situation in China and the United States, bilateral trade and investment, China's market economy status, macroeconomic policy as well as the role of renminbi (RMB) in the global economy.

Acknowledging the anti-trade rhetoric in this unusual U.S. presidential election, Chinese participants in the dialogue called on the two sides to take positive steps to build mutual trust and promote win-win commercial opportunities, such as clarifying misunderstandings about globalization, formulating foreign policy in a sensible and objective way, and solving trade disputes under WTO rules.

Donohue suggested the two sides must advance a positive, constructive and achievable agenda, which includes completing negotiations for a high-standard, comprehensive bilateral investment treaty by the end of this year, expanding commercial cooperation in key industry sectors and strengthening the global trading system.

The United States and China should also work together to "give the global economy an immediate boost" at the G20 meeting in Hangzhou, China later this year, which is a great opportunity to advance a WTO agreement to end tariffs on environmental goods, he said.

While there are a lot of issues that both countries have to sort out in the BIT talks, China and U.S. officials have repeatedly signaled willingness to finalize a deal before U.S. President Barack Obama leaves the White House in January 2017.

Catherine Novelli, U.S. under secretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, said Thursday that the United States is still waiting for China to submit a new offer for the so-called "negative list" , which outlines sectors closed to foreign investment, to move forward negotiations on the investment treaty.

China has expressed interest to submit a new negative list offer "in the near future" , but no date has been set yet, Novelli said, adding that it' s not easy to develop a negative list for investment treaty talks.

Novelli said it' s not clear whether there will be a third negative list exchange before the upcoming China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue scheduled early next month in Beijing, but signaled such move would help complete the investment treaty talks under the Obama administration.

The last time the two sides exchanged their negative list offers was in early September last year, weeks ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States.

A total of 24 rounds of investment treaty talks have been held since negotiations started in 2008 as both countries sought to increase mutual investment, which only accounted for a tiny share of their respective overseas investment.

The world' s two largest economies have become more closely connected over the past few years, as China has become a huge and growing market for U.S. businesses and Chinese investment in the United States has rapidly accelerated.

The investment treaty is expected to continue to expand two-way trade and investment and cement the foundation of China-U.S. economic ties.

The China-U.S. CEO and Former Senior Officials' Dialogue, was initiated in Beijing in March 2011 with an aim to conduct non-governmental exchanges in bilateral economic relations and provide useful policy recommendations for both governments. Enditem