At the Brussels international airport, Zhu said in a written statement that he is happy to visit the Kingdom of Belgium and the EU headquarters at the invitation of Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and European Commission President Romano Prodi.

He said the Chinese government has all along attached importance to the relations with Belgium and is willing to develop long term and stable cooperation with the Kongdom.

In recent years, both the two countries have made efforts to develop such friendly ties on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, which has already shown good momentum, deepening understanding, a marked effect in consultation and cooperation at all levels, and increasingly dynamic exchanges and cooperation in the fields such as economy and trade, science and technology as well as education, the Chinese premier said.

The purpose of this official visit to Belgium is to upgrade the good relations between China and Belgium to a new high, he said.

On the official visit to the EU headquarters, Zhu said there has been a good momentum of development in the Sino-EU relations in recent years. Both China and the EU are important forces in the international stage, said Zhu, who came to Brussels after an official visit to Italy.

"Since there has great and deep changes in international situation, further enhancement of dialogue and cooperation at the every level between China and EU is in their basic and long-term interests and is conducive to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the world,"the premier said.

Belgium is the last leg of Zhu's six-country European tour. Before coming here, He had official visits to Bulgaria, Germany, Luxembourg,the Netherlands and Italy.

During his three-day visit in Belgium, Zhu is scheduled to hold official talks on broad range of issues of common concern with Verhofstdt and Prodi, respectively.