Delegatie ESC bezoekt China (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Europees Economisch en Sociaal Comité (EESC) i, gepubliceerd op vrijdag 8 oktober 2004, 14:38.

The challenge of industrial restructuring in China EESCs Consultative Commission on Industrial Change Exchange visit to China

Between 23 September and 2 October a delegation from the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change (CCIC) of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) visited China in the context of the cooperation agreement between the EESC and its Chinese counterpart.

Speaking after the visit Josly Piette, Chairman of the CCIC and leader of the delegation said that the meeting had been an important first for the EESC and provided a major opportunity:

  • to discuss the respective experiences of the EU and of China in facing up to the problems of industrial restructuring and employment, notably in steel and coal industries;

  • to allow the EESC delegation to describe the workings of the European social market economy model with its emphasis on balancing economic, social and environmental concerns in the process of economic development and of the need for dialogue between all the actors involved;

  • and to further consolidate contacts between the EESC and the Chinese Economic and Social Council (CESC).

    China, like the EU, he continued, is confronted with huge challenges in managing a major process of industrial change in the next few years. However, it had to be realised that this is a normal and continuous part of the process of economic development, even if the scale of this change is quite impressive.

    The Chinese authorities and companies the delegation had met were eager to learn from EU experiences on the management of such change and on the social and environmental consequences involved.

    The visit followed a study tour in Europe (Luxemburg, Ruhr, Lorraine) on the same subject in March 2004 that the EESC organised for an important Chinese delegation.

    The EESC delegation to China was made up of senior representatives from EU industry, trade unions and other civil organisations with experience of managing industrial change. It contained a number of former members of the former European Coal and Steel Community Consultative Committee whose experience was of particular interest to the Liaoning Province of NE-China which is having to restructure its industrial base from coal and steel to other sectors.

    The delegation had discussions with national, regional and local politicians in Beijing, in Liaoning (North eastern) Province and in Shanghai as well as with a range of Chinese and European Companies. It took part in a major symposium on industrial restructuring and re-employment held in Dalian, co-sponsored by the EESC and the China Economic and Social Council, in which there were lengthy and heated exchanges on experiences in dealing with industrial change and its social and economic consequences, adaptation to the needs of the market economy and the need to anticipate change.

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