Seventh China-Spain Forum Held in Beijing

The seventh china-spain forum （CSF） sponsored by the CPAFFC was held in beijing on September 12. With the theme of “40 Years of China-Spain Relations― Reviewing the Past， Meeting the Challenges and Looking Forward to the Future”， the meeting focused on using the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations to consolidate friendship， enhance mutual trust， expand consensus and deepen cooperation and open up new channels and fields for cooperation.

Among more than 500 people present were Ji Bingxuan， Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress （NPC）； Ma Biao， Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference （CPPCC）； Uyunqimg， former Vice Chairperson of the NPC Standing Committee and Chairperson of the CSF Chinese Committee； Miao Xu， Minister of Industry and Information Technology； Li Xiaolin， CPAFFC President； Xie Hangsheng， Vice Foreign Minister； Meng Xiaosi， Vice President of the All-China Women’s Federation； Pedro Solbes， Chairman of the CSF Spanish Committee and former Deputy Prime Minister of Spain； Jose Manuel Soria， Minister of Industry， Energy and Tourism； Gonzalo de Benito， First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs； Juan Llado， President of the Council of Spanish-Chinese Foundation； and Manuel Valencia Alonso， Spanish Ambassador to China.

CPAFFC Vice President Li Jianping presided over the opening ceremony， after which plenary sessions on economic cooperation and local cooperation， and six sub-committee roundtables were held.

The plenary meeting on economic cooperation， “Spanish and Chinese Enterprises： Global Cooperative Partners under the New International Economic Model”， was co-chaired by Jaime Garcia Legaz， Secretary of State for Trade of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness， and CPAFFC Vice President Li Jianping. Li Jinzao， Vice Minister of Commerce addressed representatives from some 200 famous Chinese and Spanish enterprises. Zhang Hongli， Vice President of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China； Bai Haibo， CEO of the HNA Hotel Group； Qu Wenchu， Senior Vice President of Huawei Technologies Co.， Ltd.； Juan Rodriguez， consultant with the Santander Bank Ltd. of Spain； Jenaro Garcia Martin， President and CEO of Company GOWEX； and S. A. J. Jon Imaz， Director of Industrial Zone and New Energy Division of REPSOL， spoke on behalf of their respective enterprises.

Everyone agreed that， over the past four decades， bilateral trade has experienced sustained and rapid growth and two-way investment has increased continuously， with the fields of investment further expanded and cooperation in many fields deepened. They discussed how Chinese and Spanish enterprises as global cooperative partners could employ their advantages for common development under the changing global trade environment and make efforts to win more cooperation opportunities and expand into new markets.

During the forum， ICBC， a leading Chinese commercial bank， and Santander Bank reached a cooperation agreement.

The CSF Local Government Committee， set up in 2010， successfully built a platform for local governments to enhance mutual understanding and exchanges. To accommodate the needs of rapid urbanization in China and exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Spanish cities， a roundtable meeting on local cooperation was expanded to a plenary meeting hosted solely by the CPAFFC.

The meeting on “Comprehensive and Sustainable Development of Cities” aimed to boost inter-city cooperation， promote the sharing of experiences in pursuit of sustained and efficient development， encourage the application of new technologies benefiting social and economic development， and analyzed the existing effective mechanism in coordination and cooperation between localities and cities.

Inigo de la Serna， President of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces and Mayor of Santander， and the mayors of Valladolid and Villafranca de los Barros were present. Liu Shuguang， Mayor of Weifang， Yang Shihao， Deputy Chief of the Tianjin Binhai New Area， and Zhu Aixun， Vice Mayor of Wuxi， also spoke at the meeting that drew more than 50 people from provincial， regional， municipal people’s associations for friendship with foreign countries and foreign affairs offices.

Participants fully exchanged views on how to implement rational planning， reduce emissions and occupancy of land used for environment， improve the overall environment， develop energy-saving and environmentfriendly transportation and new alternative energies， and respond to the needs of residents in the process of city development.

They all agreed there were many opportunities for cooperation in the city development. The meeting helped bring local leaders and entrepreneurs of the two countries together to explore some innovative schemes to solve the developmental difficulties confronting cities. Through the forum they hoped to find specific projects in the fields of science and technology and environmental protection so as to promote common development and bring benefit to the people of cities of both countries.

Six round-table meetings on law， tourism， language， gender equality， education and food were held. Of them the meetings on language and food were held for the first time. In order to make the contents of the discussions more target-oriented， Chinese and Spanish organizers set topics for discussion and provided a brief explanation of the topics to further define the scope and focus of the discussion. In the spirit of “seeking actual results by holding short meetings and making short speeches”， the six round-tables， each lasting 75 minutes， were held simultaneously. After each short speech， the participants interacted with the speaker. The meetings achieved good results in a lively atmosphere.

A reception in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of China-Spain diplomatic ties was held on the evening of September 12 after the forum concluded.