ROME - Top Chinese political advisor Jia Qinglin on Tuesday urged China and Italy to boost their economic and trade ties despite the continuous impact of the global financial crisis.

Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, voiced this when addressing a dinner banquet attended by more than 200 officials and entrepreneurs of both countries.

Since the two nations set up their comprehensive strategic partnership in 2004, bilateral trade ties have been growing steadily, he said.

Italy is now China's fifth largest trading partner within the European Union, while China is Italy's biggest trading partner in Asia.

China and Italy share broad economic complementarity. Italy is a leading nation in technology and innovation, while China has strong advantages in terms of labor, capital and market, he said.

He urged the two sides to promote a balanced growth of two-way trade, saying China will expand its importation of Italy's fashion goods, agricultural products and precision instruments. He also hoped Italy could help relax EU's restriction on exporting high-tech products to China.

Jia hoped that Italian investors could increase their investment in environment preservation and other sectors in China concerning sustainable development.

The two countries should also step up their cooperation in clean energy, creative designs, commodity circulation, service outsourcing and infrastructure, as well as exchanges between the two nations' small- and medium-sized companies, he said.

Jia also believed Europe is able and wise enough to prevail over the euro debt problems.

As EU's trustworthy friend and partner, China supports the measures taken by the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to deal with the debt crisis, he said.

He added that over the past few months, China has enlarged its investment in the bonds of the eurozone nations and the European Financial Stability Facility.

Jia also said China would like to work with the EU to further contribute to a sustained and stable global economic growth.

Jia arrived in Italy's capital city Tuesday afternoon for an official goodwill visit to the country.

Italy is the first leg of his three-nation tour which will also take him to Costa Rica and Argentina.