China and the European Union are looking forward to a new decade of closer economic ties as the bloc's economy picks up and an investment pact is negotiated, officials say.

"Industrial complementarity between China and the EU is much more significant than the rivalry between them," Shen Danyang, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said at a news conference on Jan 21.

"The prospect of bilateral trade and economic cooperation is very broad As EU economic growth picks up and the two sides start negotiations on the investment pact, there is reason to believe that this year China-EU trade and economic cooperation will grow quickly and in a better way, opening a new decade for the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership."