On the morning of July 5, Yin Li, Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, held separate meetings with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, former Prime Minister of Spain, former General Secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), and President of the Europe-China Economic Cooperation and Development Council (ECECDC), as well as Adolfo Urso, Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy. Bi Jingquan, member of the Standing Committee and Vice Chairman of the Economic Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), attended the meetings.

Meeting with Zapatero

At the meeting, Yin expressed his appreciation for Zapatero’s positive role in promoting pragmatic cooperation between China and the EU. He highlighted the strategic importance and global influence of China-EU relations, noting that both represent significant drivers for promoting multipolarity, major markets in supporting globalization, and key civilizations advocating for diversity. The EU is Beijing’s largest trading partner. Recent years have seen continuous deepening of exchanges and cooperation between Beijing and EU countries, exemplifying China-EU relations. It is hoped that the Europe-China Economic Cooperation and Development Council could encourage sectors across the EU to further engage in win-win cooperation with China, including Beijing, to share greater development opportunities. Beijing is willing to work with the Council to enhance mutual understanding and trust between China and the EU and boost the sustained, stable, and healthy development of bilateral relations. The discussion also covered more extensive economic and trade exchanges between Beijing and European countries to encourage enterprises to invest and grow in each other’s markets. Furthermore, both sides aim to enhance cooperation in sci-tech innovation, exchange innovative resources, and actively expand collaboration in such fields as new energy vehicles, biomedicine, and green industry. They also intend to strengthen people-to-people exchanges and mutual learning in culture and tourism, education, and youth to foster friendship between the two peoples.

Meeting with Urso

During his meeting with Urso, Yin stated that China and Italy epitomize the Eastern and Western civilizations, with broad common interests and a solid foundation for cooperation. Beijing’s service-oriented economy is shifting towards a high-end, intelligent, and green direction in industrial development. This shift is supported by a growing demand among residents for high-quality consumer products, further bolstering industrial development. The Beijing market constantly attracts foreign funds, with nearly 20,000 foreign-funded enterprises located in the city. Italy, as the EU’ second largest manufacturing powerhouse, is renowned for its excellence in quality and design, presenting numerous cooperation opportunities with Beijing. We stand ready to further strengthen investment cooperation with Italy, enhance exchanges in key areas such as new energy vehicles, biomedicine, electronics and information technology, artificial intelligence, and the green industry, and explore new areas of growth areas for cooperation. More efforts should be made to foster sci-tech exchanges, including communication among researchers, talent cultivation, and joint research platform construction. Furthermore, he encouraged broader economic, trade, and people-to-people exchanges. Italian enterprises are welcome to participate in the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) and other platforms that promote open cooperation, thereby exploring areas of cooperation and sharing development opportunities.

Zapatero emphasized the vital role of China-EU ties in maintaining global peace and stability. As a close friend and important partner of China within the EU, Spain firmly supports open and free trade and is committed to promoting mutually beneficial and win-win development between the two countries. The Europe-China Economic Cooperation and Development Council will actively deepen ongoing exchanges and cooperation between the EU and China, including Beijing, in economy and trade, investment, culture, and other fields.

Urso highly praised China’s tremendous achievements in recent years, noting the prominent role of economic and trade cooperation in China-Italy relations. Italy is willing to expand industrial cooperation for more tangible results with China and specifically with Beijing in fields such as new energy vehicles and biomedicine. Relevant Chinese enterprises, including those in Beijing, are encouraged to invest and develop in Italy.

Spanish Ambassador to China Marta Betanzos, Italian Ambassador to China Massimo Ambrosetti, and Beijing municipal leaders Jin Wei and Zhao Lei, attended the meetings.