The European Union (EU) on Tuesday called for a deeper partnership with China to tackle the challenge of climate change.

 

The message was delivered by Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, whose country holds the current six-month EU presidency, at the China-EU Business Summit held in the Finnish capital of Helsinki.

 

"Energy conservation and clean technologies are part of our common goal of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases in order to control climate change," he said in a keynote speech delivered at the business forum attended by some 500 senior business leaders from China and EU countries.

 

Describing EU-China cooperation in climate change as "very close and fruitful," the prime minister said "further deepening (of the) partnership in climate change should be envisaged."

 

"Without wide international cooperation, we will be unable to reach our goals," Vanhanen added.

 

European and Asian leaders on Monday made a declaration on confronting global warming at their biennial Asia-Europe Summit (ASEM) in Helsinki, calling for the widest possible cooperation to deal with the challenge.

 

Saying that climate change and energy security were interrelated, the leaders believed more international cooperation was needed to promote the development, transfer and deployment of low-carbon technology, and to help developing ASEM countries possess cleaner technologies.

 

They also called for the enhancement of energy efficiency and the scaling up of the use of new and renewable energy.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2006)