Mariann Fischer Boel visits China to promote "Tasty Europe"

by S. C.

Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, will visit China from Monday, 18th May until Friday 22nd May to promote the quality and diversity of European food and drink. The Commissioner will be accompanied by a delegation of 11 top executives from food and drink companies from across the European Union, representing an annual turnover of around €27 billion, under the "Tasty Europe" banner. The business representatives have been selected taking into account products where there already is an EU presence on the Chinese market and where there is significant potential for growth in the future. The main objective of the visit is to spearhead a promotional effort to increase joint business opportunities in the agri-food sector between the EU and China.

"European food and drink products have a well-deserved international reputation for their quality," said Commissioner Fischer Boel. "Our agricultural trade to China grew by 82% over the last 4 years. We continue to see enormous potential on this market for our producers to tap into growing demand for high quality and traditional European food and drink with the very best food safety standards. I look forward to working closely with the business delegation in finding out how best to do business in China."

During the visit, the Commissioner and the business delegation will meet and interact with members of the Chinese business community both in Shanghai and Beijing. Mrs Fischer Boel will also have meetings with leading members of the Chinese government, including Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai, Minister Wang Yong of the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and Vice-minister of Commerce Yi Xiaozhun. The trip represents a great opportunity to strengthen EU-China links and to foster business opportunities on both sides.

On Monday 18th May, the delegation will launch the 'Tasty Europe' promotional week at an event at a leading food distributor in Shanghai. On Tuesday 19th, having inaugurated the 10th SIAL Food & Beverage trade show, Mrs Fischer Boel will open the EU stand at SIAL and take part in promotional events including a cooking demonstration. On Wednesday 20th in Beijing, the Commissioner will give the keynote speech at the China-EU agro-food business summit. On Thursday 21st, she will launch an EU-China project on agri-environmental policy and give a lecture at the Beijing Agricultural University.

Commissioner Fischer Boel will hold a press conference in room E3M3 at the SIAL show in Shanghai at 14.00 on Tuesday and an end of visit press conference at the EU Delegation in Beijing at 11.30 on Friday.