Wu said that with the continuing advancement of the overall Sino-EU partnership, the two economies enjoy great co-operative potential because of their highly complementary economies.

The advancement of mutually beneficial bilateral co-operation in various fields is not only in the interests of both countries, but also conducive to world peace, stability and development, said Wu.

She also urged quick and proper settlement of bilateral trade disputes that have erupted this year.

The disputes over EU bans on some Chinese food imports, which saw retaliatory measures imposed on EU cosmetics, is a top issue to be addressed by the two sides.

Lamy, in a speech to European business people, also recognized the "growing importance of EU-China relations" and called on European businesses to step up efforts to "remain influential" in the fast-growing China market.

He said the EU is impressed with China's efforts "to put in place a stronger legislative framework" covering intellectual property, the service industry, and, at the technical level, the structure for quotas and tariff-rate quota management after its WTO accession.

Lamy said the EU is keen to co-operate with China on the Doha Development Agenda and on a number of new issues.

He said the EU is "assembling a major bilateral dialogue with China on the new round, and a team of WTO experts will be flying out to Beijing next month to launch that process."

(China Daily October 18, 2002)