China and the European Union announced on Friday that they have reached clear conclusions on an ambitious and comprehensive scope for the upcoming EU-China investment deal.

"Meeting this week in Beijing, the EU and China negotiators reached clear conclusions on an ambitious and comprehensive scope of the upcoming EU-China investment agreement," the European Union Mission to China said in a new release today.

"This is a major step forward in the EU-China talks launched in November 2013 and a direct response to the political commitment made by European and Chinese leaders at the June 2015 EU-China Summit."

The announcement comes as Brussels kick-started its long decision-making process of whether to give Beijing market economy status or not, although Beijing insists that it should be given automatically in the end of this year.

According to the news release, both sides agreed that the future deal should improve market access opportunities for their investors by establishing a genuine right to invest and by guaranteeing that there will be no discrimination against their respective companies.

"The EU and China are also determined to address key challenges of the regulatory environment, including those related to transparency, licensing and authorisation procedures, and to provide for a high and balanced level of protection for investors and their investments," according to the release.

It added that the agreement will also include rules on environmental and labour-related dimensions of foreign investment.

The outcomes of this week set the negotiations on a good track to expect a deal offering a real added value for EU and Chinese firms investing in their respective markets.

"The negotiators will continue working intensively throughout 2016 in order to hammer out the details of the agreement," the release said.

To contact the reporter: fujing@chinadaily.com.cn