An EU commissioner said in Beijing on Tuesday evening the
European Union would like to work with China to seek a rational and
cooperative solution to global imbalances.
Joaquin Almunia, EU Commissioner for economic and monetary
affairs, told reporters at a press conference that global
imbalances have become the biggest challenge facing EU and
China.
Bilateral talks would play an important role in the process of
solving the issue, said Almunia.
Almunia was in Beijing at the invitation of China's Finance
Ministry for a three-day visit from Monday.
He met respectively with Finance Minister Xie Xuren, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan on Tuesday, and other senior
officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, the
State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the state forex
investment company on Monday.
Almunia said he appreciated the contacts with Chinese officials,
calling the talks "interesting."
He said the EU spoke highly of the proactive measures China has
taken to tackle global imbalances, such as increasing consumption
and reducing savings rate, hoping the measures could proceed and be
further strengthened.
He suggested China attach importance to environmental policies,
construction of social security network and regional
disparities.
As for the monetary policy of China, Almunia said China has
taken some measures to raise the flexibility of forex management,
which in fact have limited influences on other currencies, such as
euro. He called for more intensified measures on the policy.
Almunia delivered a speech at the prestigious Tsinghua
University on Tuesday afternoon.
(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2007)
