Prodi to Head EU Group for EU-China Summit

President of the European Union (EU) Romano Prodi and six other senior officials will represent the 15-nation bloc at the third EU-China summit slated for October 23 in Beijing, the European Commission said on Thursday.

EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, EU Economy Commissioner Pedro Solbes Mira, French President Jacques Chirac and EU Foreign and Secretary Policy Czar Javier Solana will accompany Prodi on his trip to Beijing.

The summit, aimed at promoting relations between the EU and China, will focus on China's WTO accession and the two sides' cooperation in combating human being trafficking and illegal immigration, said the commission in a statement.

In the past five years, the EU and China have made achievements in the fields of education, science and technology, energy, environment, agriculture, civil aviation and telecommunications, with projects that have been valued at around 60 million euro (50 million U.S. dollars) a year.

The first EU-China summit was held in London in April 1998, and the second summit was held in Beijing last December.

People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/