Strasbourg, 12/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - The new Chinese head of state, Xi Jinping, will travel to Brussels on 31 March as part of a tour of Europe, which will also include a summit on nuclear safety.
President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, and President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso will receive President Xi in Brussels on 31 March. This visit, the first in history of a Chinese president to the European institutions, comes in the broader framework of Xi's first visit to Europe since he became the Chinese head of state in March 2013. This visit will take him to the Netherlands for the nuclear safety summit in The Hague on 24-25 March, to Germany and France. On 1 April, Xi will make a speech on EU-China relations at the College of Europe in Bruges, where future EU civil servants are trained.
This visit will “open up a new chapter in the history of relations between China and Europe”, said the head of Chinese diplomacy, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress (the Chinese parliament) on 8 March of this year. Xi will promote the reinforcement of cooperation in key fields to his European partners, such as scientific and technological innovation, urbanisation, energy and environmental protection, as well as cultural exchange. The Chinese head of state is also expected to invite the European leaders to consider broader free-trade negotiations than those currently underway for an investment agreement. “We hope to accelerate negotiations on an investment agreement ahead of future free-trade arrangements between China and Europe”, Wang explained. Lastly, Xi intends to reinforce the “strategic communication” between China and its European partners in international affairs. “Cooperation is the key word in relations between China and Europe, who are two great powers. This cooperation will make the world a better place, a safer and more balanced place”, Wang concluded. (EH)