The 9th China-EU summit was held on Saturday in the Finnish capital of Helsinki, and leaders from both sides vowed to deepen the compressive strategic partnership between China and the European Union .
The yearly summit, attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen whose country is holding the EU presidency, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, decided to launch the talks on the new partnership agreement.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said early signing of the agreement is helpful to push forward the comprehensive cooperation in various fields like politics, economy, science and technology, culture, education and security.
Wen also said that both sides also agree to strengthen the political strategic dialogue between China and the EU, enhance the substantial cooperation in trade, sustainable development, environment protection, social security and finance services.
 "We discussed the trade issue during the meeting and we both reaffirmed our commitment to strengthening trade cooperation. We fully believe that the current leadership of the EU member states are able to exercise vision to display farsightedness and courage in handling some of the differences between China and the European Union including the lifting of the arms ban and the recognition of China's full market economy status. "
President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said ""It is with great satisfaction that we can announce today, that we have agreed to open negotiations on the new framework agreement. It will be a comprehensive partnership and cooperation agreement."
"It is with great satisfaction that we can announce today, that we have agreed to open negotiations on the new framework agreement. It will be a comprehensive partnership and cooperation agreement. This new agreement will reflect the full breadth and depth of our bilateral relations and it signifies a great step forward towards delivering our strategic partnership. "
The EU and Chinese leaders also talked on a wide range of international hot issues like Iranian nuclear issue, the Korean peninsular nuclear issue and Darfur.
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Director: Liu Chi