Season’s Greetings from the European Chamber Go back »
2017-12-14 | All chapters
Since being elected president of the European Chamber in May 2017, there have been many exciting developments: our Business Confidence Survey 2017 once again tracked and analysed the evolving opportunities and challenges faced by our members in the Chinese marketplace; our Position Paper 2017/2018 laid the foundation for future lobbying efforts, and evaluated the implementation of State Council Document No. 5; and with the launch of the Shenyang Position Paper 2017/2018, we now have a full set of local position papers from each of our seven chapters.
We have also been busy with our direct advocacy – up until December we have had a total of 70 high-level government meetings, 233 working-level meetings and responded to 90 calls for comments. During our annual European Tour, the Chamber delivered its key messages to European institutions in Brussels and other capital cities, and I was proud to have the opportunity to deliver a speech to the European Parliament.
Now is the time to examine China’s ever-changing business landscape. In 2018, we must persevere in our efforts to proactively shape regulations in China at all levels of government. The European Chamber will continue to monitor the implementation of State Council Documents No. 5 and No. 39 and their calls for further opening-up China’s economy to greater participation by European businesses. With the 19th Party Congress now behind us, we will continue our advocacy leading up to, and following, the Two Sessions in early 2018. At the same time, European business needs to stay on its toes in order to remain competitive against increasingly talented local competition, and to seize new opportunities in China’s increasingly sophisticated market.
On behalf of the European Chamber I would like to extend my warmest holiday wishes to all of our members, the Advisory Council, the Executive Committee, the European Union Delegation and our secretariat, as well as our colleagues in the Chinese Government. We are looking forward to a successful 2018 with you.
Mats Harborn
President
European Union Chamber of Commerce in China