CRI听力:Industrial Cooperation High on the Agenda During Li Keqiang's European Visit

The European Union has been China's largest trading partner for the last 11-years, making economic ties between the two sides critical.

The European Commission launched a 3-year investment plan last year, with a focus on infrastruction construction and tighter links among EU member-countries.

Feng Zhongping, European Studies expert with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, says the 300-billion-euro "Juncker Plan," named after current European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker, fits well with the Chinese government's "Belt and Road" initiative.

"European countries are the western end of the 'Belt and Road 'initiatives. So it has a natural convergence. The Juncker strategic plan also covers infrastructure building especially in these central and eastern European countries. So you can see there is a very good connection. And we have already held a lot of talks with EU leaders including Juncker himself."

Feng Zhongping notes one of the areas of focus during Li Keqiang's trip will be on expanding industrial capacity.

This is a term used to describe upgrading existing sectors with better technology to make them more efficient.

Premier Li Keqiang has been using the phrase "international industrial capacity cooperation" since his visit to Kazahkstan back in December.

"In Premier Li's view, China has strong industrial capacity and European countries have advanced technologies. The most important thing is that we have to think about other developing countries, as they have developing demands. So it is a three-part job, China's money and capacities, Europe's technologies and the third country's market."

One area expected to be focused on will be nuclear power cooperation.

A number of deals are expected to be signed in France by Premier Li Keqiang as part of the government's current "going global" nuclear power strategy.

Currently, over 80-percent of France's electricity is generated through nuclear power.

Chinese and French firms are already working together in a joint nuclear power project in Britian.

Alice Rezkova, an expert on China-EU ties with the Association for International Affairs in Europe, says the European side is also going to be looking for committments from Li Keqiang when it come to opportunities in China.

"So for example transporation, there is a huge need in reducing traffic congestion in China and encourage the use of public transportation by making travel more efficient, secure and also safe. Also the area of government services and the area of resources, you know the smart grid and renewable energy system to manage outages, control costs."

As part of Li Keqiang's time in Belgium, he's scheduled to meet with top EU leaders, address the opening ceremony of this year's China-EU business summit, as well as take part in a forum on China-EU urbanization partnerships.

For CRI, I am Wang Mengzhen.