EU-China dialogue to deepen economic co-op for early recovery

CHINA-EU COOPERATION WARMING UP

The dialogue is another sign that China-EU cooperation is getting back on track after a slight derailment last year.

China postponed a summit with the EU last November due to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to meet the Dalai Lama when France held the EU presidency, but the mutual benefits in the fight against crisis soon brought them together.

Early this year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Europe on a Journey of Confidence. During the G20 summit in London early this month, Chinese President Hu Jintao met a number of European leaders to consolidate mutual trust.

In an effort to build a joint front against the financial and economic crisis, a trade and investment delegation from China last month struck multi-billion-dollar deals with European companies to boost trade.

Following the high-level dialogue, the 11th China-EU Summit is expected to be held later this month in Prague of the Czech Republic, which holds the current EU presidency.

Song Zhe, Chinese ambassador to the EU, said that since the EU is the biggest organization of developed countries and China is the biggest developing country, the bilateral relationship between them transcends its bilateral implication and takes on greater global and strategic importance.

"After the financial crisis hit us, we stood closer, supported each other and worked together for an early recovery of our economy and that of the world. We become tightly bound more than ever before," Song said at an event in the European Parliament last week.

Editor:Zhang Ning