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Official Stresses Sino-EU Ties
Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to Europe is expected to enhance mutual understanding and promote trade and economic co-operation between China and European Union countries.
The two sides have been active in expanding trade and economic ties, said an official with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation (MOFTEC).
Different in economic development levels, China and EU economies are supplementary in capital, technology and markets, he said.
The European Union is China's third largest trade partner after Japan and the United States.
Bilateral trade between China and European Union countries continued to thrive in the first five months of this year.
The two sides' trade volume reached US$25.94 billion in this period, up 28.4 per cent from comparable months of last year, according to statistics from the General Administration of Customs.
China's exports to EU countries surged 36.3 per cent to US$14.7 billion and its imports from EU countries rose 19.5 per cent to US$11.3 billion in the first five months.
The EU has been a major foreign investor in China since the 1990s.
EU countries launched 422 direct investment projects in China in January-May, up 29.9 per cent from the same period of last year.
The projects involve contracted capital of US$15.5 billion, up 34.8 per cent from the same period of last year, and actual use of capital stood at US$1.5 billion, up 16.3 per cent from the comparable period of last year.
By the end of this May, EU countries have started 10,676 investment projects in China, involving contracted capital of US$43.1 billion and actual use of US$23.1 billion.
An official from MOFTEC said China and the EU should take advantage of their past friendly economic relationship and talk about long-term measures and plans to advance bilateral trade, and economic and technological co-operation.
He said China has a huge market potential and with the country's further opening-up and the implementation of policies to step up the development of its west, China and the EU will expand co-operative fields and improve their economic co-operation.
He expressed wishes that the EU will loosen its limit on technology exports to China and enlarge its direct investment and technology transfer in China.
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