EU-China
European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic meets with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China.
European companies are interested in being involved in China's ambitious globe-spanning Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) but first more information and transparency is needed before any real commitment can be made, according to European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič.
Mr Šefčovič made the comments during an interview with CNBC at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. He said that he had held talks with several major companies in Europe and that there was a general need for more transparency before any corporate buy-in.
"They would love to be more involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, but we need a little bit more information coming for our companies: how they can participate, how they can bid in the public procurement — and of course also the sustainable financing of this project is important because it's raised some concerns also in Europe," he said.
The BRI is one of President Xi Jinping's key policies and aims to create a massive global network of rail, road, shipping and digital connection, underpinned by trade with Beijing at the centre.
Mr Šefčovič is just one of many global officials attending the forum, which according to President Xi, wants “open, green and clean cooperation” with “zero tolerance for corruption.” The forum also seeks to allay concerns and criticisms that it is saddling poorer countries with huge debts. It comes in the wake of some countries looking to renegotiate or even cancel their BRI projects. In 2017, Sri Lanka relinquished a port to China after being unable to pay its debts to Chinese companies.
The Commission Vice President said that China had begun to address these issues: "I believe (Beijing) will solve them to the satisfaction of European companies, to the financing side of these deals," he said. "In that case, if they have more transparency and more information, I am sure that this project would be interesting for European financial institutions and for European companies."
More specifically, Mr Šefčovič said that what companies are looking for is "a little bit more advanced information on what kind of projects are being planned, what is the magnitude of these projects, so they can bid in the public procurement and participate in them."
He also said that the EU was looking for more "synergy" between the BRI and the bloc's own connectivity strategy which seeks to improve links with Asia.
Notable by its absence at the forum was any delegation from the US. Washington has regularly raised concerns about the BRI. In March, the White House National Security Council tweeted that Italy's endorsement of the Initiative "lends legitimacy to China's predatory approach to investment and will bring no benefits to the Italian people."
Harking back to the joint statement released following the EU-China summit in April, Mr Šefčovič said that he believes that China is committed to reforming its relationship with the EU.
"(The joint statement) clearly reflected that we are going to work on a more transparent public procurement, that we are going to work also on the fair trade practices, and that we would also discuss more (on) what kind of synergies we can achieve together. "What is very important for Europe is that the European companies in China would be treated in the same way how the Chinese companies are treated in Europe."
April's joint statement - called the EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement - set out future objectives that both sides would work towards. These included an end to forced technology transfers and a commitment to the building of economic relationships around openness, fair competition and non-discrimination.
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