China, EU outline future strategic partnership
Updated: 2007-11-29 11:02
BEIJING - The 10th China-EU Leaders' Meeting was held here Wednesday, and leaders from both China and the European Union (EU) outlined their future strategic partnership while discussing pragmatic issues.
The yearly summit, attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Prime Minister Jose Socrates of Portugal, which currently holds rotating presidency of the European Union, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso.
The meeting came as the 10th anniversary of the regular meeting mechanism of Chinese and EU leaders.
Over the past decade the China-EU ties have witnessed the fastest development in history and mutually beneficial cooperation has produced rich results and the ties now have reached an unprecedented level in width and depth, Wen said during the meeting.
From the Renminbi exchange rate issue, trade imbalance to climate change and energy cooperation, both sides touched upon all the core issues in the China-EU relations in a pragmatic and open attitude.
During the two-hour summit meeting, both sides agreed to properly handle the disputes through dialogue and negotiation so as to seek balance of trade and push forward the China-EU relations to a new height.
Wen made a four-point proposal to better outline the future ties during the meeting.
One proposal is the two sides should improve the structure of trade, expand trade volume and properly handle the problems in bilateral trade.
Wen proposed to maintain close high-level contacts and have prompt exchanges on bilateral and global issues, making full use of current dialogue mechanism.
He said the two sides should speed up negotiations on a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which was started last January and aimed at replacing the outdated 1985 Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement.
Wen also proposed to make common working plan on China-EU sci-tech cooperation and sign educational exchanges and cooperation agreement as soon as possible, implement the working plan on cultural dialogue and cooperation, and strengthen practical cooperation in the fields of climate change, energy and environmental protection.
Trade and economic cooperation has become one of the powerful engines for the development of the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, while trade imbalance emerged as a major issue amid developing bilateral relations.
"We have and will continue to put in place measures aiming at expanding imports and promoting a more balanced bilateral trade." Wen said in a speech at the 4th China-EU Business Summit before the China-EU Leaders' Meeting on Wednesday afternoon.
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