Mr President, it is of course an incredibly important event when the EU is to enter into an agreement on scientific and technological cooperation with the People’s Republic of China, because we all know that China is the big country which will decide a large part of our common future. My own basic attitude to the agreement, as rapporteur, and also that of the Committee, is that this is a good Agreement. It is important and positive that we should go through this process in order to reach an agreement. The Chinese Authorities have recently introduced a number of reforms in line with the broad principles agreed at the 1992 United Nations World Conference on Environment and Development in Rio. The European Union is prepared to offer further support to the Chinese Government towards achieving its objectives. That is part of the agreement. This should especially improve environmental protection and limit the negative impact of industrial growth and urbanisation on the well-being of the Chinese population. It is important that this should be stated clearly in the texts of the agreement and that we understand that our type of industrialisation has many positive sides, but also a number of negative sides. For the EU’s part, we are funding joint research projects, especially in biotechnology applied to agriculture, medicine, health care and natural resources. In this regard, concerns have been raised, and with some justice, about the lack of ethical constraints in China, especially in human genetic research. It is very important indeed that we should be well aware of this when we enter into the agreements concerned. Various organisations have also pointed out that there are risks of proliferation of bio-weapons technology. The EU will supply technical assistance to develop energy resources and promote energy efficiency, energy conservation and clean or renewable energy supply, as well as promoting the use of environmentally friendly technology. We are now becoming involved with China in aspects of this cooperative work. This is important, not least when it is borne in mind that China produces 15 million tons of sulphur dioxide, causing acid rain, and over 13 million tons of particulate pollutants. These are some of the signs that suggest that our partnership with China is extremely important and could also lead to a better environment for ourselves and the whole world. The Committee has made up its mind that this is, on balance, a sound agreement. We have accepted it, and I completely support our having done so. I just have a few remarks along the way. They are not binding upon Parliament, as the decision process is, but I hope that the results of certain aspects of scientific cooperation are applied with caution and that, in view of the lack of ethical constraints in China, we avoid cooperation in the field of biotechnology. I think it is very important indeed that we should be sure to check up on what would happen in China following this type of cooperation before we enter into any concrete agreements. There is also a quite different aspect of the agreement which has a considerable air of secrecy about it. I am assuming that when section 5 of the annex relating to intellectual property rights is applied, it will be ensured that it is not applied word for word but in a way that accords more with the general rules of openness which now happily apply more and more within our European Union. To summarise, I recommend that we accept this agreement with China which is important for ourselves, for China and for our common future.

Political group: Verts-ALE