Brussels, 15/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - European Commission Vice-President Loyola de Palacio is to begin a three-day visit to China on Saturday 16 June. She will meet Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, the Minister of Communications, responsible for transport issues, Huang Zhendong, and the minister of Sciences and Technologies, responsible for the energy sector, Xu Guanhua. Ms de Palacio will open the 4th EU-China Conference on Energy Cooperation. The two sides should on that occasion, discuss the draft Euratom/China cooperation agreement, for which the Commission has just adopted the draft negotiating brief (see EUROPE of 7 June, p.10), and look at the definition of the EU/China Cooperation Programme in the field of energy and the environment. With a budget of 20 million euro over three to five years, this programme will concern clean coal, natural gas, energy efficiency and renewable energies. The Commissioner will try to rekindle the draft trade agreement in the field of shipping. The aim is to enable European companies to benefit from: - equal national treatment in Chinese ports; - recognition of the right of establishment; -facilitation of door-to-door transport. Negotiations have not progressed since the Commission secured its brief in 1998, the Chinese autorities focusing on WTO negotiations. The Chinese authorities nevertheless undertook to speed-up the process, at the meeting in Beijing on 16 May.