By Wang Junling
China and Europe, both pulling great efforts on cooperation with each other, have beenexperiencingincreasingly closereconomic and trade ties over the pastyears.
Thanks to the CHINA RAILWAY Express(Chinese block trains travelling to and from Europe), it only took 10 days for the four aircraft produced by Italian aircraft manufacturer Vulcanair to be transported from Lodz, Poland to Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
These aircraft would be used for pilot training, sightseeing, photograph and short-distance shipment, introduced CheTianfa, chairman of board of Sichuan Tuofeng General Aviation Co., LTD, the importer of the aircraft and Vulcanair’sgeneral agency in China.
According to him, China used to purchase most of its primary trainer aircraft from the US.After the delivery of the first batch of the Vulcan V1.0 aircraft, the remaining products will be shipped to China via the CHINA RAILWAY Express in partial shipment, Che said.
It marked the first time for the cargo trains departing from Chengdu to Europe to import airplanes, which is also a miniature of the increasingly closer economic ties between China and Europe.
A recent set of data released by China’s Ministry of Commerce at a regular press conference further indicated the sound momentum for China-Europe economic and trade cooperation.
At present, China is Italy’s biggest trading partner in Asia and the third largest source of imports, while Italy remains China’s fifth largest trading partner and source of foreign direct investment in the European Union.
Trade volume between the two countries reached $54.24 billion in 2018, up 9.1 percent over the previous year. This January, bilateral trade maintained growing momentum, increasing 8.9 percent year on year. In addition, bilateral investment also kept rapid growth and exceeded $20 billion.
China’s trade relations with France were also on a rise in 2018. Last year, bilateral trade volume created a record high, hitting $62.9 billion with an increase of 15.5 percent.
France saw a high growth of exports to China in the sectors of agriculture, medicine, cosmetics, as well as middle- and high-end garment industries.
In the first two months of this year, the tradevolumebetween China and France reached $10.6 billion, up 19.4 percent year on year. China’s total imports from France surged by 42.2 percent in the same period.
Apart from strengthening partnership in traditional fields such as nuclear energy, aerospace and automobile, China and France are also actively expanding cooperation in ecological protection, “silver-hair” market, finance and other emerging industries.
Over the past years, China and Europe have always viewed each other as significant economic and trade partners, and their cooperation outweighed competition, said Chen Xin, director of the economic division of the Institute of European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Countries like Italy and France are at the forefront of China-Europe economic and trade cooperation, Chen added.
“On the demand side, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), focusing onpolicy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds, willeffectively deepen cooperation in the trade, investment, and cultural sectors between China and European economies,” Chen noted.
“On the supply side, China and Europe enjoy broad prospects of the Belt and Road cooperation, as the two sides, though differ in economic structures, are highly complementary in their industries,” Chen added.
The advantages of many European enterprises are what their Chinese counterparts are in need of, while in turn, many Chinese enterprises can also provide quality supply for European companies, the director explained.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) pointed out in the latest World Economic Outlook report it issued this January that the global expansion has weakened. The global economy is projected to grow at 3.5 percent in 2019 and 3.6 percent in 2020, lower than the expectation made last October.
In the report, IMF alsonoted that the main shared policy priority is for countries to resolve cooperatively and quickly their trade disagreements and the resulting policy uncertainty, rather than raising harmful barriers further and destabilizing an already slowing global economy.
It is of great significance for China and Europe to enhance economic and trade cooperation in various fields under the BRI against such an international backdrop, Chen told People’s Daily.
“At present, the world economy is facing growing uncertainties,” he pointed out.If China and Europe can continue heating up economic and trade cooperation under the BRI, people’s confidence toward future economic development would be largely increased, as both of the two are major players of the world economy that have huge sizes and consumption markets, Chen explained.
Analysts believe that in the future, the deepening economic and trade cooperation between China and Europe will becomea highlight of the world economic recovery. China’s growing quality of economic development and larger steps of openingup willfurther open prospects for China-Europe Belt and Road cooperation, third-party market expansion and new technology development.
Source: People’s Daily Overseas Edition
中欧经贸合作持续升温
王俊岭
前不久，4架从波兰罗兹始发的意大利火神V1.0飞机搭乘中欧班列抵达中国四川的青白江城厢站，全程只需要10天。据四川驼峰通用航空公司董事长车天发介绍，该型号飞机将用于飞行员训练、空中游览、空中拍照、短途空中运输等业务。此前，国内用于飞行培训的初级教练机大部分来自美国。首批意大利火神V1.0飞机顺利交付后，余下的产品将陆续分时、分批通过中欧班列（成都）运抵中国。
在微观上，这是中欧班列（成都）首次成功承载进境飞机业务；在宏观上，这是中欧经贸合作不断升温的生动写照。日前，商务部例行新闻发布会上的一组数据，充分印证了中欧经贸往来的良好势头。
目前，中国是意大利在亚洲的第一大贸易伙伴，是意大利第三大进口来源国。意大利是中国在欧盟的第五大贸易伙伴、第五大直接投资来源国。2018年，双边贸易额突破了500亿美元，同比增长9.1%，达到542.4亿美元；今年1月，双边贸易继续保持增长势头，同比增长8.9%，双向投资快速增长，累计超过200亿美元。
2018年，中法两国双边贸易额突破600亿美元，达到629亿美元，增长15.5%，再创历史新高。法国的农产品、医药品、化妆品、中高端品牌服装服饰等优势特色产品对华出口快速增长。今年前2个月，中法双边贸易额达到106亿美元，同比增长19.4%，其中，中国自法进口增长高达42.2%。目前，双方不断深化核能、航空航天、汽车等传统领域的合作，积极拓展生态环保、“银色”经济、金融等新兴领域的合作。
中国社科院欧洲研究所经济室主任陈新在接受本报记者采访时指出，长期以来，中欧一直互为对方的重要经贸伙伴，合作明显大于竞争。其中，意大利、法国等国家更是在中欧经贸合作中位居前列。
“从需求来看，‘一带一路’重在‘政策沟通、设施联通、贸易畅通、资金融通、民心相通’，可以有效带动中欧各经济主体在贸易、投资、人文等方面的合作不断加深；从供给来看，中欧之间经济结构差异较大，产业链互补性较为明显，很多欧洲企业的优势领域是中国企业的短板，很多中国企业的优势产品又恰恰为欧洲所需。因此，中欧在‘一带一路’中合作前景十分广阔。”陈新说。
国际货币基金组织（IMF）在2019年初最新一期《世界经济展望报告》中指出，全球经济增速已经减弱，预计全球经济2019年将增长3.5%，2020年将增长3.6%。值得注意的是，这一结果比IMF2018年10月的预测更低。IMF同时呼吁，各国的政策重点应该是以合作方式迅速化解贸易分歧及其带来的政策不确定性，而不是进一步提高贸易壁垒、破坏已在放缓的全球经济。
在此背景下，中欧在“一带一路”倡议下加强各领域经贸合作，显得尤为珍贵。“当前，世界经济增长不确定性比以往更强。作为世界经济的重要参与主体，中国与欧洲都有着庞大的经济体量和消费市场。如果中欧之间的经贸合作能够借‘一带一路’持续升温，显然有助于稳定人们对于未来世界经济发展的信心。”陈新说。
分析人士指出，随着中国经济发展质量不断提高和对外开放步伐扩大，中欧在“一带一路”倡议、拓展第三方市场、新技术新工艺新材料等诸多领域的合作空间都会进一步打开。未来，中欧经贸合作的持续加深，将会成为世界经济复苏进程中的重要看点。
来源：人民日报海外版
