China, EU continue investment talks

The next round of negotiations on the investment agreement between the European Union and China is going to be held next week, Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said at a regular news briefing on Thursday.

Since the start of this year, China and EU have had six rounds of official negotiations with positive progress at each, he said.

Gao also disclosed China's non-financial outward direct investment from January to August was 480.45 billion yuan ($68.48 billion), declining 2.6 percent year-on-year, but ODI into Belt and Road Initiative-related economies hit $11.8 billion, increasing 31.5 percent on a yearly basis,

ODI into BRI-related economies took up 17.2 percent of the total for Jan-August period, up 4.8 percentage points year-on-year.

The value of new contracted projects in the BRI-related economies was $72.95 billion, while the completed turnover was $46.02 billion. Both took up more than half of the total.

During the period, the value of new contracted projects overseas was 946.94 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 7.3 percent, while the completed turnover was 558.11 billion yuan, with a year-on-year decrease of 10.2 percent.

Among the new contracted projects overseas, 462 had a value of over $50 million, which took up 82.6 percent of the total, and projects with value exceeding $100 million hit 265, seven more than last year.

Non-financial ODI from local enterprises increased 5.1 percent year-on-year, reaching $49.27 billion. The non-financial ODI from the Yangtze River Economic Belt totaled $22.05 billion, up 13.1 percent on a yearly basis.