Chinese premier arrives in Brussels for China-EU leaders' meeting

BRUSSELS, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived here Sunday for the 17th China-EU leaders' meeting in Brussels.

Upon his arrival, Li said the China-EU relationship has witnessed increasingly prominent characteristics of strategic significance and mutual benefit after four decades of development.

He said China always firmly supports the European integration process and strives for deepening the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership based on mutual benefit and the win-win principle.

Li said he expects to conduct in-depth discussions with the new EU leadership on deepening bilateral ties and pragmatic cooperation, accumulating strategic consensus, coordinating respective development strategies, and broadening insights on cooperation.

He also voiced his hope for exchanging views on key issues of common concern, so as to break new ground for the China-EU all-round cooperation.

During his stay in Brussels, Li will co-chair the China-EU leaders' meeting with President of the European Council Donald Tusk and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.

He is scheduled to address the opening ceremony of a China-EU business summit and attend a forum on the China-EU urbanization partnership. ' Li will also meet President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.

During Li's visit, China and the EU will issue a document to outline their future cooperation priorities and a statement on climate change, and sign several cooperation deals on regional policies, intellectual property rights protection, customs and technological innovation, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

The EU has been China's largest trading partner for 11 years while China has been the EU's second largest trading partner for 12 years. Bilateral trade volume exceeded 600 billion U.S. dollars in 2014.

After the Brussels trip, Li will go to France and deliver a speech at the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development headquarters in Paris. Afterwards, he will visit Marseille and Toulouse.