Roundtable on Long-term Policy for China-Europe Relations: Cooperation in Trade, Investment and Finance

On May 23, the Roundtable on Long-term policy for China-Europe relations: Cooperation in Trade, Investment and Finance was held in Renmin University of China. The meeting was jointly organized by IMI and the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) and the DZ Bank, and co-organized by the Cross Border Financial 50 Forum (CBF50). Participants include Kalin Anev Janse, Member of the Management Board and Secretary General of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Hans Vijlbrief, ESM President of the Economic and Financial Committee and the Eurogroup Working Group, Siegfried Ruhl, Head of Funding & Investor Relations at ESM, Frank Scheidig, Global Head of Senior Executive Banking at DZ BANK, Bill Block, US Treasury Representative in China, Bekele Debele, Program Leader, Sustainable Development, World Bank, Giovanni Garcea, Director, Economic and Financial Division, EU Delegation to China, Elske Smith, Head of Economic Affairs, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in China, Ellie Groves, Programmes Manager of Europe, OMFIF, Zhang Zhixiang, Former Director-General, International Department, PBoC and Former IMF Executive Director for China, Xia Le, Chief Economist for Asia, Research Department, BBVA and Zhong Hong, Deputy Director, International Finance Institute, Bank of China. The meeting was chaired by Wei Benhua, Former Deputy Administrator, SAFE and Former IMF Executive Director for China. The participants had a discussion on “Chinese and European Priorities in Finance, Investment and Trade” and “Multi-Currency International Monetary System”. For the first topic, Zhang Zhixiang believed that with a long history of trade, China and Europe can strike a balance between seeking common ground and reserving differences when cooperating with each other. We should, among other things, focus on liquidity and specific practices in different situations. Hans Vijlbrief held that Europe seeking global cooperation will last dozens of years. We should bear in mind the financial crises in the past decade, and give full play to the cooperation forum and cross-border institutions. In particular, Europe should reach a consensus on policies with China. Giovanni Garcea reviewed the debt crisis in Greece. He said for Europe, there is still a long way to go to reach a win-win scenario through cooperation. Meanwhile, because of its complexity, debt crisis should be kept a close eye on. Frank Scheidig said that Sino-Euro cooperation can draw lessons from France and the U.S., and give full play to fintech, commercial banks, cross-border institutions and emerging economies. For the second topic, the participants discussed on the evolution and the future of world currency. Xia Le analyzed some problems in RMB internationalization, reviewed the internationalization process, and shared his opinions about the application of Triffin Dilemma on the withdrawal and floating exchange rate in current financial market and the reform and opening-up of financial markets. Bill Block believed that there are underlying reasons for the US dollar to dominate the market in the past decades. The emergence of world currency is the result of natural selection in the financial market. Zhang Zhixiang held that the status of different currencies in the international market might be influenced by the differentiated economic conditions of countries, and political factors should also be considered. Bekele Debele said the performance of currency in the international market is closely linked with national policies. A unitary currency market didn’t fit in the current trend of development.

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