In parallel to this week´s the 22nd EU-China summit, European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson took part in the 9th EU-China Energy Dialogue with her Chinese counterpart, Zhang Jianhua, the Administrator of the National Energy Administration of China.
According to the European Commission, this year’s dialogue “focused on clean energy policies, in the context of both parties’ efforts to overcome the economic crisis caused by COVID19”.
“The EU Recovery Plan and the European Green Deal were discussed, as well as China’s measures to stimulate clean energy development, and the shared responsibility to promote green energy investments in third countries”, the EC adds.
Commissioner Simson and Administrator Zhang also discussed security issues on the global energy markets, diversification of currencies for energy transactions, progress on power market reforms in the EU and China, as well as energy innovation and business cooperation.
European and Chinese businesses were invited to present their views on the opportunities and challenges of energy investment in China, according to the statement.
Commissioner Simson and Administrator Zhang also reviewed progress on the Joint Statement on the Implementation of the EU-China Energy Cooperation, which was signed in the margins of the 2019 EU-China Summit.
They also took stock of the progress of the EU-China Energy Cooperation Platform, launched in May 2019, and discussed activities that are planned under the second Annual Work Programme of the Platform.
The 22nd European Union-China bilateral Summit, on 22 June 2020, was rocked by disagreement between the two powers on human rights issues, namely regarding Hong Kong, and also the european demand of a “level playing field” on trade.
