Two-way trade between the EU and China has increased more than 20 times since reforms began in 1978: the EU is China's second largest export market and China is the EU's third non-EU trading partner after the US and Japan, and the EU has been the largest foreign investor in China excluding Hong Kong, for the past three years.

As described by Joseph Stiglitz, who derives great authority from his past experience at the World Bank, markets are more and more focused on the ratio of foreign-exchange reserves to short-term debt, forcing countries seeking to head off a crisis to increase their foreign-exchange reserves in parallel with short-term loans taken out by those of their economic operators who are in debt to foreign investors.

Having regard to the Treaties and in particular the provisions guaranteeing unhindered access to the single European market, bearing in mind the British Government’s formal announcement, in a statement to Parliament on 8 November 2000, that it will introduce a tax on all ‘foreign’ road hauliers using British roads by means of a toll which all non-British hauliers will have to pay, given that a discriminatory toll on non-British road hauliers would severely damage the internal market and be particularly damaging for the economy of Ireland because 70 per cent of Irish exports in the rest of the EU and further afield use the British landbri ...[+++]dge and having regard to Directive 1999/62/EC of 17 June 1999 on charges for use of certain infrastructures, would the Commission please outline what action it will take to maintain the freedoms of the internal market and ensure compliance with Directive 1999/62/EC by the British Government?

Having regard to the Treaties and in particular the provisions guaranteeing unhindered access to the single European market, bearing in mind the British Government’s formal announcement, in a statement to Parliament on 8 November 2000, that it will introduce a tax on all ‘foreign’ road hauliers using British roads by means of a toll which all non-British hauliers will have to pay, given that a discriminatory toll on non-British road hauliers would severely damage the internal market and be particularly damaging for the economy of Ireland because 70 per cent of Irish exports in the rest of the EU and further afield use the British landbri ...[+++]dge and having regard to Directive 1999/62/EC of 17 June 1999 on charges for use of certain infrastructures, would the Commission please outline what action it will take to maintain the freedoms of the internal market and ensure compliance with Directive 1999/62/EC by the British Government?

The EU should also pursue the following new initiatives: - Draw up an inventory of the most important measures which would improve the climate for foreign investment in Japan; - Push for a more open competition policy in Japan; - Launch a new Export Promotion Programme in services, examine the possibilities for a substantial increase in the budget available from 1996 onwards in order to consolidate its existing export promotion initiatives, including Gateway to Japan and the Executive Training Programme; - Ensure better coordination of member state and EU resources, both when monitoring internal reforms and when campaigning for furthe ...[+++]r market opening in Japan.

External borrowing from private sources reached some US$ 1.5 billion, thereby illustrating the return of confidence by financial markets.