Leadership

EU hopes for moves on climate deal at EU-China Summit

27.11.2009
The European Union is hoping the upcoming 12th EU-China Summit will provide an opportunity to made further inroads on securing an ambitious deal on climate change at next month’s UN global climate conference in Copenhagen.

The EU-China summit is taking place in Nanjing next week and will be attended by the recently appointed President of the European Council Herman van Rompuy, the Prime Minister of Sweden, Fredrik Reinfeldt, who currently holds the EU presidency, and the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, with the Chinese delegation headed by Premier Wen Jiabao.

“From this EU-China Summit we intend to send a strong message on our shared determination to face and overcome together global challenges. Only a week before the Copenhagen UN conference on climate change we will stress the need for an ambitious and global result, which includes structures to finance mitigation,” President Barroso said.

“There is a lot we can achieve together also in economic recovery and the reform of international financial structures. Furthermore, this summit takes place only a day before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which will contribute to enhance the profile and influence of the European Union in global affairs,” he added.

“In our bilateral relations I would welcome seeing a rapid increase in people-to-people contacts and student exchanges over the coming five years. We need to know and understand each other much better. We should make every effort to increase the number of student and youth visits in both directions, with the aim to triple the number by 2018,” President Barroso said.

The summit will also address the financial and economic crisis, as well as the bilateral relationship and international issues, such as non-proliferation, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Burma/Myanmar.

Pictured: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso