5 September 2005
Tony Blair has held trade talks in Beijing today during an EU-China summit.
The meetings are part of the UK’s European Union presidency programme.
The EU is China’s largest trading partner and China is the EU’s second largest trading partner - the total annual trade between the two countries in 2004 was 175 billion euros.
On the agenda today has been the recent dispute over textile imports. The Prime Minister said he was sure China and the EU member states would reach an agreement.
He said:
"There are bound to be disagreements over trade, partly because of the strength of the Chinese economic performance and where there are disagreements we have got to resolve them as we have fortunately been able to do in respect of textiles."
Welcoming Mr Blair at the Great Hall of the People earlier, China’s President Hu said that the regular meetings between China and the EU were good for enhancing ‘our mutual understanding’ and ‘our mutually beneficial co-operation.’
Mr Blair added:
"We are delighted to be here. The strategic partnership between China and the EU is of immense importance, not just in terms of trade but also in terms of our co-operation on the major political issues the world faces.”
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