Brussels, 31/08/2001 (Agence Europe) - The IVth EU-China Summit will be held on Wednesday 5 September, in Brussels. It will cover "all relations between Europe and China", explain observers, which includes: trade relations, China's accession to the World Trade Organisation (just a few months from the WTO meeting in Qatar in November), political dialogue (including human rights), cooperation programmes, the economic situation in China, cooperation in the face of transnational challenges, strengthening of dialogue on security issues, regional issues (Korea, Balkans), as well as various points such as cooperation in the fight against illegal immigration.
The European delegation will be headed by the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, and Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, President-in-Office of the EU Council, accompanied by EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Javier Solana. The Chinese delegation will be headed by Prime Minister Zhu Rongji. The summit itself will be held on Wednesday afternoon, from 16h30. It will be preceded by a first working meeting between the Chinese External Trade Minister, Shi Guangsheng, and the European Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy. On Thursday, Commissioner Chris Patten will meet the Foreign Minister, Tang Jiaxvan.