China to send new purchase teams to Europe

Even in 2008, when the financial crisis broke out and took its toll on the world economy, China-EU trade grew to $425 billion, an increase of 19.5 percent over the previous year, according to figures from China's customs. It outpaced expansion of China's trade with the United States and Japan over the same period.

The European Commission said the two-day dialogue will cover a series of issues, including trade, investment, small and medium-sized companies, customs cooperation, sustainable development, product safety and intellectual property rights.

All are meant to "strengthen trade and investment relationship between the EU and China in order to speed up recovery in the current economic crisis," the commission said.

It is the second time the EU and China have held a high-level dialogue on trade and economy. The first was in Beijing in April 2008 after the mechanism was agreed to at a China-EU summit in November 2007.

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.

Editor:Zhang Ning