China and the European Union (EU) will establish a high-level economic and trade dialogue by the end of March next year to address issues including trade imbalance and China's market economy status.

According to a Joint Statement of the 10th China-EU Summit issued on Monday, the dialogue is designed for vice-premier level discussions on  strategies in China-EU trade, investment and economic cooperation and coordinate bilateral projects, studies and develop plans in priority sectors,

It will cover issues affecting the trade imbalance, including effective market access, intellectual property rights, environment, high technology and energy, among others.

Statistics with China's Ministry of Commerce indicated China's surplus with the EU, China's largest trading partner, reached $91.7 billion in 2006, but a paper issued by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, predicted China's trade surplus to the EU could top 200 billion euros ($260 billion) by the end of this year.

The statement said the Chinese Minister of Commerce and the EU Trade Commissioner will meet as necessary to prepare this mechanism and its agenda.

It said the dialogue also includes sessions to review the concerns of China including progress on the issue of Market Economy Status (MES) made on other occasions.

The statement mentioned in particular that "a working group involving the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and European Central Bank (ECB) will deal with the exchange rates related issues."

It said the two sides agreed that concerted efforts are needed "to adopt comprehensive measures, intensify structural adjustment, and avoid drastic movement of exchange rates", in order to "make due contribution to the orderly adjustment of global imbalances."

The 10th China-EU Leaders' Meeting, which was convened in Beijing on November 28, saw the presence of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Prime Minister Jose Socrates of Portugal, which currently holds the European Union (EU)'s rotating presidency, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso.

(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2007)