BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — The European Union (EU) and China are set to sign a long-awaited business investment deal after seven years of intense discussions, despite concerns about the human rights situation in the country.

The provisional agreement is set to be announced today, an EU official with direct knowledge of the talks said. The official was not authorised to speak publicly as a matter of practice.

The deal was sealed after China committed to pursuing ratification of the International Labour Organization’s rules on forced labour, according to the unnamed official. The EU hopes the agreement, known as CAI, will help correct an imbalance in market access and create new investment opportunities for European companies in China by ensuring they can compete on equal footing when operating in the country.

The EU previously said the agreement, which includes provisions for settling disputes, should increase the transparency of Chinese State subsidies and make sustainable development a key element of the relationship between the EU and China. The deal also includes clear rules against the forced transfer of technologies, a practice in which a government requires foreign investors to share their technology in exchange for market access.

The agreement was reached as the EU expressed concerns yesterday about “the restrictions on freedom of expression, on access to information, and intimidation and surveillance of journalists, as well as detentions, trials and sentencing of human rights defenders, lawyers, and intellectuals in China”.

The EU’s diplomatic agency, the European External Action Service, called for the immediate release of Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer who reported on the early stage of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China and has been sentenced to four years in prison.