China believes the eurozone can manage its debt crisis but is concerned about the outlook for bilateral trade in the rest of this year, senior officials said yesterday ahead of Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Europe tomorrow.

"Europe's economic situation may not show a substantial improvement and we can't be optimistic about the bilateral trade outlook," Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan told a news briefing in Beijing.

Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said China is confident the European Union can address the debt crisis and China appreciates efforts taken to ease the problem.

China's exports to Europe fell 12.7 percent from a year earlier in August, a third straight month of decline, while overall exports grew 2.7 percent.

Last week at the 6th Summer Davos Forum, Wen said he had "full confidence in the eurozone, yet also some worries."

"China will firmly support EU integration and development of the eurozone," the premier said. "The difficulties the EU faces now are only temporary as the EU has a strong economy, a large pool of scientific and technological personnel and advanced managerial expertise."

Wen urged China and the EU to overcome the difficulties.

Wen will attend the 15th China-EU Summit in Brussels and pay a two-day official visit to Belgium from tomorrow. He will also meet president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

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