China, EU call for more exchanges in financial sector

BRUSSELS, July 4 (Xinhua) -- China and the European Union (EU) on Wednesday held the Third China-EU Financial Dialogue here, aiming at beefing up exchanges in financial policies.
At the one-day meeting, the two sides discussed various topics of mutual concern, such as the macro-economic situation and policies, reforms to financial sectors, guidelines on accounting and governmental purchases.
The two delegations, led by Chinese Vice Minister of Finance Zhu Zhigang and EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia, signed a joint statement after their talks.
In the document, the two sides agreed that despite high oil prices, the world economy maintains robust growth thanks to healthy financial market conditions and booming global trade.
On their respective economies, the Chinese side said China's economic growth is running above previous expectations and the EU side said its economy is growing faster than expected.
The Chinese side agreed to implement prudent fiscal policies and suitably tight monetary policies, and to further restructure the economy and transform its growth pattern so as to achieve sustainable development. It also agreed to gradually improve the mechanism for setting the yuan exchange rate.
On the EU side, the document said EU members need to further improve their budget situations. It said prudent budgets are crucial to increasing the sustainability of public finances.
Regarding reforms to financial sectors, China and the EU reached a consensus that the well-functioning and increasing opening up of financial markets are important to economic development by lowering financing costs and improving the allocation of resources.
The Chinese side promised to further open up, strengthen supervision and risk management, increase transparency as well as step up relative legislation to deepen reforms of the financial sectors.
The EU side said it is advocating for an integrated, open, more competitive and efficient financial services market.
The joint statement also covers the two sides' shared views on accounting, auditing and government purchases, and their agreement to hold the Fourth China-EU Financial Dialogue in China next year.
The China-EU Financial Dialogue was officially launched in February, 2005, thus creating a new channel for the two sides to conduct cooperation in broad economic policies and financial areas.
It also serves as a significant platform to increase mutual understanding, promote cooperation and enhance the all-round strategic partnership between China and the EU.
This year, the Chinese delegation to Brussels is composed of officials from Ministry of Commerce, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission and China Insurance Regulatory Commission.
The EU side draws together representatives from the EU Commission in charge of economic and monetary affairs, internal market and services and external relations, as well as officials from the European Central Bank.