China and the EU are racing to strike a trade accord in the final days of the year, as it is reported that negotiators from Brussels and Beijing have made a breakthrough on access to each other’s markets.
The EU’s trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis will on Monday try to seal the deal with his Chinese counterpart Liu He, EU diplomats and officials said as quoted by Politico.eu on Saturday.
The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment offers safeguards to EU companies offshoring production to China and will make it easier for EU investors to buy Chinese companies, and vice-versa.
Sabine Weyand, the bloc’s top trade bureaucrat, on Friday briefed EU ambassadors on progress in talks and described a surprisingly good offer from the Chinese side, according to five diplomats and one official.