by Grandesso Federico, Shuai Rong
BRUSSELS, July 31 (Xinhua) -- European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Pierre Moscovici welcomed Chinese engagement on the world stage as a positive step towards stronger global economic resilience and macroeconomic stability.
"China can make an important contribution to shaping an open, rule-based, multilateral economic and financial governance, and the EU stands ready to engage with China in this process," Moscovici told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview.
Being asked about what role China can play at global level to shape a new governance, the Commissioner said that China is already playing an important and constructive role in the context of the G20.
"During its G20 Presidency, China has focused on stepping up the momentum of reform on global economic and financial governance, particularly to increase the representation and voice of emerging market economies and developing countries," Moscovici said.
"We have an interest in a better integration of emerging market economies, especially China, into the international financial architecture. This reflects their growing importance in the global economy and the decision by the IMF Executive Board last year to include the RMB in the SDR (Special Drawing Rights) basket is an important recognition of China increased economic importance," he added.
Moscovici stressed how China has energetically driven the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and co-founded the New Development Bank along with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa.
"We see these new development institutions as complementary to existing tools, and welcome them as important initiatives to meet large investment needs in developing and emerging economies, while adhering to proven best practices in terms of governance and transparency," the EU Commissioner said.
Regarding the positive cooperation between the EU and China, Moscovici underlined how the EU and China have developed a close and effective cooperation on economic and financial issues over the years, based on gradually closer engagement and build-up of trust.
"We worked closely together in our efforts to overcome the economic and financial crisis and we appreciated China's support at the height of the euro area sovereign debt crisis," he added.
Moscovici remains confident in China's capacity and determination to further deepen its ambitious market-oriented reform strategy and to ensure a level-playing field for business.
The Commissioner stressed that EU and China economies account for more than one third of global output while the bilateral trade relations have grown substantially over time.
"Considering that there is still potential to further deepen our trade and investment cooperation, it is therefore essential to continue nurturing and enhancing the policy dialogue with our Chinese counterparts, "Moscovici said.
"We regularly discuss our respective economic challenges and reform programs both at bilateral and G20 level, and the Commission remains engaged in negotiations with China on an ambitious and comprehensive Investment Agreement," the French Commissioner said.
Moscovici stressed also the importance to work together constructively to close the global investment gap and help to overcome infrastructure bottlenecks in Europe and Asia.
Regarding possible future cooperation with China on the G20 strategy, Moscovici welcomed the focus of the Chinese G20 Presidency on building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive global economy and explore new ways to drive development and structural reform.
Moscovici stressed that in order to secure a strong, sustainable and balanced growth in the medium to long term, the Chinese initiative of discussing long-term drivers of growth as an important area of further cooperation is important.
"While the diagnosis and desired policy response differ, it is clear that structural reforms remain crucial," he said.
The EU Commissioner recalled that in 2014, G20 leaders in Brisbane agreed to increase global growth by an additional "2 percent over 5 years", therefore swift and full implementation of the reforms necessary to reach this goal remains key.
"Investment continues to be an important theme in the G20 and this is also a key priority for the EU as we implement the Investment Plan for Europe," Moscovici said.
The EU Commissioner finally underlined that "promoting fair and transparent taxation is an area in which we can and must cooperate further, it is equally important for us that financial regulatory reform will remain central on the G20 agenda".
Moscovici was recently in China to take part in the meeting of G20 finance chiefs and central bankers which took place in Chengdu on July 23-24.
