The joint declaration was signed by Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner in charge of the Digital Economy and Society, and Miao Wei, Chinese minister of industry and information technology.
"5G will be the backbone of our digital economies and societies worldwide. This is why we strongly support and seek a global consensus and cooperation on 5G. With today's signature with China, the EU has now teamed up with the most important Asian partners in a global race to make 5G a reality by 2020. It's a crucial step in making 5G a success,” said Commissioner Gunter.
Under the agreement, the EU and China will cooperate and implement joint research actions and facilitate bilateral participation of enterprises in 5G research projects in China and the EU as well as promote its global standardisation.
In addition, they will cooperate in facilitating the identification of radio frequency bands to meet new spectrum requirements for 5G and explore possibilities for research on services and applications for the technology, particularly in the area of the internet of things.
The Commission has entered into similar agreements with South Korea and Japan this year.
