China, EU agree to enhance dialogue, co-op

LISBON—China and the European Union (EU) agreed here Thursday to promote dialogue and cooperation to better cope with challenges in an increasingly globalized world, where both sides share various common interests.
In the third round China-EU strategic dialogue, both sides reached a consensus that enhanced dialogue and cooperation would be in conformity with the fundamental interests of both sides, and would also contribute to world peace, stability and development, according to sources with the Chinese delegation.
During the discussion, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui and the EU “troika” led by Portuguese Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Joao Gomes Cravinho exchanged views on Sino-EU relations and a wide range of international and regional issues of common concern, said the sources.
China and the EU held their first round strategic dialogue in London in December 2005. The second round was held in Beijing in June 2006.China will cooperate more with the European Union (EU) to develop safety and security criteria for products, a leading official from the top product quality supervision authority said Wednesday.
To increase joint efforts to establish a product safety control system, the two sides have agreed to establish a joint information platform for industrial products, Wei Chuanzhong, vice-minister of General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), said. “We will assess what it will take to set up a database for the platform by the end of this year,” Wei said.
“The information platform will help solve problems arising from bilateral trade, providing a more effective way to push forward win-win trade development,” Wei said. Wei made the remarks after the sixth annual meeting of the Negotiating Mechanism on Sino-EU Industrial Product and WTO/TBT (World Trade Organization/technical bar-riers to trade), which took place in Beijing Wednesday.
Under the negotiating mechanism, which was launched early in 2002, China and the EU have set up 10 working groups covering trade issues in several industrial sectors, such as textiles, medical devices, electrical and mechanical devices, chemicals and cosmetics. He said a four-month product-safety inspection campaign launched by the AQSIQ is currently underway nationwide.
Prior to yesterday’s meeting, the EU also signed the first agreement for cooperation on pharmaceuticals and related products with the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration, according to the delegation of the European Commission to China.—Xinhua