Sino-European relations have developed very well and both sides have conducted smooth cooperation in various fields, said Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, voicing that China will further its cooperation with the European Union (EU) and the EU member states.
Zhu made the remark in Beijing Monday afternoon at a meeting with Vice-President of the EU Commission Loyola de Palacio, who is in China to attend the 4th China-EU energy cooperation conference, which opened in Beijing Monday.
Zhu welcomed the EU delegation and expressed his congratulations on the success of the opening of the conference.
Palacio voiced her admiration for China's great changes and progress and her hope to further bilateral cooperation in such fields as energy, communications, science and technology.
She also expressed support for China's early accession to the World Trade Organization.
The conference, the biggest of its kind between the Chinese government and the EU in the field of energy, is one of the major cooperative projects between the two sides.
The two sides set up such an exchange mechanism in 1994 and decided to hold the conference in turn every two or three years.
(Xinhua News Agency 06/18/2001)