The 21st EU-China Summit calmed recent bilateral unease and renewed the Sino-EU partnership with fruitful deliverables and major breakthroughs as the two sides addressed concerns and agreed to work on a series of key areas including investment, World Trade Organization reforms, market access and 5G.

The one-day summit proved to be an opportunity for the two sides to strengthen their cooperation and enhance mutual trust. "Negotiations have been difficult, but ultimately fruitful," said President of the European Council Donald Tusk at a joint news conference held at the conclusion of the summit.

It is true that great achievements have been reached by the two sides at the summit, which came two weeks after Chinese President Xi Jinping paid state visits to Italy, Monaco and France.

For instance, on investment and trade.

The joint EU-China statement issued at the closure of the summit confirms the high level of ambition of both sides to make decisive progress in talks on the EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement by this year.

Premier Li Keqiang, who attended the summit, told reporters at the news conference that the talks, which started in 2013, are expected to be concluded by 2020.

And there are reasons to expect EU-China two-way investments to get a boost: At the summit, China reaffirmed it will grant equal treatment and broader market access to European firms. Previously, China approved a law regulating foreign investment in the country, which will safeguard foreign companies' rights in the country and ban technology transfers.

However, we should note that China's investment in Europe has been in decline since its peak in 2016. The drop may be largely due to China's tightened controls on capital outflows, but the EU-wide foreign investment screening measures, which entered into force in April, risk being a double-edge sword: it may "prevent" European core assets from falling into foreign hands, but also cool foreign investors' enthusiasm and harm European companies, in particular those in urgent need of funding.

It is evident that more efforts are needed to address both sides' concerns in this regard in a bid to finalize a bilateral investment deal that suits both interests by next year.

The joint statement also reaffirms the commitment of both sides to continue the current equitable and mutually beneficial cooperation and, at the same time, work toward finding mutually agreeable solutions to a number of key barriers as identified by both parties, with a stocktaking taking place at the next EU-China Summit.

The commitment greatly reduces the uncertainties posed to both administrations in the aftermath of the EU elections in months to come and EU-China cooperation agenda beyond 2020.

Currently, the bilateral coordination is governed by EU-China 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation, a mutually-agreed upon policy overseeing bilateral coordination that will expire next year. As the new EU leadership is expected later this year, EU-China ties are set to be taken into new territory.

Meanwhile, the joint statement acknowledges that 5G networks will provide the basic backbone for future economic and social development.

"The EU and China welcome progress and further exchanges in the EU-China dialogue and working mechanism on 5G based on the 5G Joint Declaration of 2015, including on technological cooperation between our respective business communities," it said.

The EU and China forged a key partnership on 5G in 2015, but lately cybersecurity concerns have cast a shadow over their cooperation.

The European Commission on March 26 recommended an EU-wide approach to safeguard the security of 5G networks. Brussels did not ban Chinese companies joining the bloc's 5G development but dialogues and exchanges are needed for the two sides to further advance the EU-China 5G partnership.

Furthermore, it is timely and of great significance for the EU and China to boost digital cooperation as a new wave of technologies is set to revolutionize our societies and industries.

Besides 5G, the EU and China should seek to cooperate in future strategic areas such as smart cities, big data, artificial intelligence, the internet of things and cloud computing.

EU-China ties are of strategic importance and major global influence, as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said at the news conference, "in today's world, our partnership is more important than ever before".

Hats off to both sides for their successful efforts to find and expand common ground and setting the direction for the future of the EU-China partnership.

The author is president of ChinaEU.

The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

All rights reserved. Copying or sharing of any content for other than personal use is prohibited without prior written permission.