Understanding China

Submitted by ECCP Team on 09 June 2016

Understanding China is a platform for business and policy dialogue on EU-China relations developed by a consortium of leading European business organisations, academia and think tanks which is also responsible for its implementation.

As one of the largest and most challenging economies in the world China represents a huge economic potential, but also poses a number of difficulties for EU businesses - especially SMEs - trying to enter the market. A better knowledge and greater understanding of China are crucial for increasing European businesses’ competitiveness and ability to take advantage of the huge market potential here, and this is what Understanding China focuses on, especially from SME’s point of view. In order to reach this goal, the platform uses several tools:

  • Training Programme – a strongly targeted and specialised training programme for business representatives: this 'train the trainers' approach will ensure that its impact is multiplied as widely as possible and that a large number of companies will benefit from higher quality services and up-to-date information from their business organisations
  • Policy Dialogue – Encouraging policy dialogue between key stakeholders from business, academia and politics is important to foster an ongoing debate and a wide and varied exchange of views and experience
  • China Advisory Council (CAC) – The CAC is an advisory body to the European Commission on economic policy vis-à-vis China. Each of the 17 members of the CAC brings along several years of business experience on China
  • China Ideas Community – focuses on aggregating existing research on China that can be of interest to businesses, allowing members to submit, comment and quality rate various research pieces, disseminate and promote popular research pieces among European businesses and science community, stimulating further networking among members. Forum users can also receive email alerts on contributions in which they are active.
  • SME Roundtables – These roundtables which give the SMEs the opportunity to engage in dialogue with representatives of academia, policy makers, business representatives and other key stakeholders to propose policy recommendations and address on important matters concerning European business in China

Through debates, community contributions and the latest research Understanding China provides an open forum for discussion. At the same time, a targeted and specialised academic training programme is offered for employees of business representative organisations.

Contact:     Ms Freya Lemcke , Advisor International Affairs, lemcke [at] eurochambers.eu

Ms Estelle Jacques, International Affairs, Jacques [at] eurochambers.eu

For more information please visit:  http://www.understandingchina.eu

Category
Service Oriented