Global challenges and governance

13. China and the EU recognise their responsibility to lead by example, pursue policies that support an open, balanced, and inclusive global economy which is beneficial to all, and encourage trade and investment. China and the EU firmly support the rules-based multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, fight against unilateralism and protectionism, and commit to complying with WTO rules.

The two sides reaffirm their joint commitment to co-operate on WTO reform to ensure its continued relevance and allow it to address global trade challenges. To this end, both sides will intensify the discussions with the aim of strengthening international rules on industrial subsidies, building on the work developed in the China-EU Joint Working Group on WTO reform. Both sides will also continue to exchange views on other mandated WTO issues.

The two sides welcome the work so far in the China-EU Joint Working Group on WTO reform. Both sides also agreed to continue working to resolve the crisis in the WTO Appellate Body and build convergence on other areas of WTO reform.

Both sides agree that there should not be forced transfer of technology.

The two sides support the work of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on reform of the investment dispute settlement system and will engage cooperatively in that process.

14. China and the EU reaffirm their support to the G20 in continuing to play its active role as the premier forum in international economic and financial cooperation, and agree to implement G20 commitments to support strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. Both sides agree to promote the G20, in the spirit of partnership and the principle of consensus, to make more contributions in upholding multilateralism, improving global economic governance and boosting global economic growth. Both sides call on all G20 members to safeguard a free, open and non-discriminatory global trade through reinforced communication and cooperation. The two sides will work towards a positive and results-oriented G20 Osaka Summit.

Both sides agree that steel overcapacity is a global challenge that requires collective responses. To this end, China and the EU agree to maintain communication in the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity. Both sides look forward to a substantive report by June 2019.

China and the EU will continue to actively promote the reform process of the international monetary and financial system and to complete, at the latest at the 2019 Annual Meetings, the 15th General Review of Quotas of the International Monetary Fund.

15. China and the EU agree to intensify the efforts to develop a new set of guidelines for government supported export credits within the International Working Group on Export Credits.

16. China and the EU underline their strong commitment to implement the Paris Agreement and the Montreal Protocol, and, given the urgency to take domestic and international action to effectively provide a global response to the threat of climate change, to further intensify their cooperation on the basis of the 2018 joint Leaders' Statement on Climate Change and Clean Energy. China and the EU recall that carbon pricing and fossil fuel subsidy reform are key steps in this regard. In this context, China and the EU will reinforce their cooperation on green finance in order to harness private capital flows towards a more environmentally sustainable economy. Both sides will work together for a successful outcome of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Action Summits in September 2019.

China and the EU stress the importance of showing resolve on the clean energy transition and of assuming greater leadership on the global environmental agenda. Both sides will actively implement the Memorandum of Understanding on Circular Economy cooperation and promote practical cooperation between industries.

Both sides recognise the importance of cooperation in addressing global environmental challenges, including pollution and marine litter. Both sides are willing to deepen cooperation on issues such as halting biodiversity loss, CITES implementation and enforcement, combating illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products, sustainable forest management, combating illegal logging and associated trade, as well as desertification and land degradation.

China and the EU look forward to a successful and landmark Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming in 2020. Both sides will work together for an ambitious and realistic post-2020 global biodiversity framework at the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties hosted by China in 2020.

China and the EU also reaffirm their commitment towards the effective implementation of the Blue Partnership for the Oceans, including cooperation on promoting sustainable fisheries and fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and exchanges on the conservation and sustainable use of Antarctic marine living resources, including by the establishment of marine protected areas in the Antarctic Ocean. The two sides endorsed the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles promoting sustainable investment in the oceans.

Both sides also welcome the first meeting of the China-EU Water Policy Dialogue.

17. China and the EU will cooperate to improve the economic, social, fiscal, financial and environmental sustainability of Europe-Asia connectivity and interoperability. Such cooperation should abide by the shared principles of market rules, transparency, open procurement, a level playing field and fair competition, and comply with established international norms and standards, as well as the law of the countries benefitting from the projects, while taking into account their policies and individual situations.

The two sides will continue to forge synergies between China's Belt and Road Initiative and the EU strategy on Connecting Europe and Asia as well as the EU Trans-European Transport Networks, and welcome the agreement, in the framework of the China-EU Connectivity Platform, on the terms of reference for the Joint Study on sustainable Railway-based Corridors between China and Europe. The two sides will enhance communication within the framework of the China-EU Connectivity Platform.