Chen Bo, president of CIIS, and Piet Steel, honorary chairman of the Europe Asia Center, attended the seminar and delivered opening remarks.

　　Chen Bo noted that China and Europe share broad common interests, they are important trading partners to each other, and both are firm advocates of multilateralism. The two sides should address issues properly through dialogue and consultation, bridge differences and disagreements, advance mutually beneficial cooperation amid profound changes in the world, and support their respective development, and contribute to a more equal and orderly multipolar world and a more universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization. Think tanks in China and Europe should deepen exchanges, and contribute their insights to the development of China-Europe relations.

　　Piet Steel remarked that the gigantic transformation in China over the past decades is undeniable, hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty in a remarkably short period of time, an achievement of historical significance. The rise of one power does not mean the decline of another, Europe and China should resist a zero-sum interpretation of their relationship, building greater mutual trust and turning differences into opportunities for cooperation. The two sides should work toward a more balanced and mature Europe-China relationship, and safeguard peace and development in the world.

　　Liu Feitao, vice president of CIIS; Zhou Jian, special research fellow at Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy Studies Centre; Wang Yun, deputy general director of Xi Jinping Thought on Economy Study Center; Feng Zhongping, former director of the Institute of European Studies, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; and Zhang Tong, director of the Institute of EU Law at the China University of Political Science and Law, attended the seminar along with other CIIS scholars, as well as experts and scholars from European think tanks, including the European Institute for Asian Studies, Friends of Europe, the European Policy Centre, and Europe Jacques Delors. They held candid and in-depth discussions on topics including China’s new development philosophy and new opportunities for the World, differences in China-Europe economic and trade relations and ways forward, the shaping of shared interests between China and Europe in the process of multipolarization.