Creating right investment climate for future

The year 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of EU-China diplomatic relations - a milestone in our cooperative relationship thanks to which the EU and China now enjoy one of the world's biggest trade relations. Our bilateral trade grows even bigger year by year. In 2014, the total volume of trade in goods amounted to almost 470 billion euros ($526 billion). Over the years, this partnership has grown beyond trade and extended to creating opportunities for our businesses, international security, environmental protection and academic exchange. The summit we will hold in Brussels is both a recognition of the importance of our cooperation and also an opportunity to intensify this partnership.

The European Union and China are both engaged in serious economic reforms. In Europe we are strengthening the governance of the euro area and working to boost competitiveness at the national level. The European economy is showing clear signs of a broad-based recovery. And now we must ensure its sustainability. In the past we have focused our efforts on reorienting countries' public expenditures and improving their fiscal responsibility, but these two strands cannot be sustained without a third: investment.

The 315 billion euro European Fund for Strategic Investment aims to foster long-term growth and job creation by stimulating investment. The political agreement on the fund was reached in May and we are moving swiftly into implementation. The European Investment Bank has already started to finance projects worth more than 5 billion euros.