国内英语新闻:Senior Chinese official calls for enhanced trade, economic cooperation with EU

BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- A senior official from China's Ministry of Commerce called for enhanced trade and economic cooperation between China and the European Union (EU), prior to Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang's upcoming visit to three EU nations.

In a recent interview with the People's Daily, Ministry of Commerce International Trade Representative Gao Hucheng reviewed the current trade and economic relationship between China and the EU, pinpointing the areas where more efforts could be made on both sides to further cooperation.

In an article published in Wednesday's People's Daily, Gao said that in the past 35 years since China and the EU forged diplomatic ties, the relations between the two sides went from "constructive partnership" to "comprehensive partnership" and the now "comprehensive strategic partnership."

The article was published about a week before Vice Premier Li sets out to visit Spain, Germany and Britain on Jan. 4-12.

Trade between China and the European Union has become one of the most active and influential bilateral relations in the world, said Gao.

Leaders of China and the European Union have been exchanging official visits frequently, said he. This year alone, seven of top Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, paid official visits to over a dozen EU countries.

Meanwhile, some 65 high-level delegations from the EU and its member states visited China in 2010.

Trade cooperation between China and the EU has been speeding up, Gao said. When China established diplomatic relations with the EU in 1975, annual trade was at 2.4 billion U.S. dollars, the volume of about two days between two sides this year. In the past 35 years, trade volume has grown over 150 times.

According to China's statistics, China-EU trade amounted to 433.9 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of this year, up 33.1 percent from last year, a growth rate higher than that of China-Japan and China-U.S. trade.

According to statistics released by the EU, its exports to China rose 4 percent in 2009 despite the economic recession and decreased export to the rest of the world. EU's total investment in China has exceeded 70 billion U.S. dollars so far, making the EU China's third largest source of foreign investment.

Communication between people on two sides has grown substantially over the years. Nowadays nearly 200,000 Chinese students are studying in the EU countries and some 150,000 EU nationals are working in China. Over a million Chinese tourists travel to the EU countries every year.

Gao pointed out that as the largest developing country in the world with fast economic growth, China could forge complimentary economic ties with the EU, as they stand at different places in economic development.

On future economic policies, Gao said China was commited to expanding its domestic demand, adjusting its economic structure, and continuing its open-door policy, which is indispensable to China's development. He said the country's on-going economic reform offered great potential for investment and consumption, and gave other countries, including those in the EU, excellent business opportunities.

Gao encouraged politicians and entrepreneurs on both sides to take a more holistic view of China-EU economic and trade relations and cooperate more actively in many sectors of the economy.