ENHANCE MUTUAL TRUST, CHINA-EU RELATIONS

It is the key point of Wen's Eurasian visit to promote the development of China-EU relations, Yang said.

China and Greece have cherished long-standing friendly relations and witnessed sustainable development of all-round strategic partnership. During Wen's visit to Greece, the two countries issued the China-Greece Joint Declaration on Further Deepen Allround Strategic Partnership.

Greece suffered debt crisis before long. Wen announced China's decision to continue to hold and buy Greek bonds. He also voiced hopes for the two countries to double bilateral trade to 8 billion U.S. dollars in five years.

In his speech at the Greek parliament, Wen said China would further expand China-Europe trade, especially in the sectors of shipping, economy and trade, construction and investment.

In the heart of Europe, Belgium houses the EU headquarters. The past few years have witnessed frequent visits by top leaders of China and Belgium as well as extensive expansion of cooperation in various sectors. During his visit to Belgium, Wen met with King Albert II and held talks with Prime Minister Yves Leterme. Both sides agreed to maintain sound channels on major issues within a multilateral mechanism and further develop bilateral trade. The two countries also signed documents on cooperation in nuclear energy, telecommunications, and quality control.

China and Italy established diplomatic relations 40 years ago and all-round strategic partnership six years ago. During Wen's visit to Italy, Wen and his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi met with business people of the two countries and signed 17 agreements and documents on cooperation in justice, culture, science and technology, and environmental protection.

The two sides also issued a China-Italy Three-Year Action Plan on Strengthening Economic Cooperation, a document that further defined the key sectors of bilateral cooperation in the coming three years.

Wen and Berlusconi also attended the China Year of Culture activities to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.

Wen paid a brief visit to Berlin as a guest of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the midst of his stay in Brussels. They exchanged views on how to further develop China-EU and China-Germany relations.

Merkel said Germany would continue to give support for EU to recognize the market economy status of China as soon as possible. The two sides also reiterated the importance of promoting stable recovery and sustainable development of world economy, working together to fight the global financial crisis and adhering to the principle of common but differentiated responsibility in dealing with climate change.

Steadily strengthening China-EU relations is an important part of China's foreign relations.

Attaching great importance to the strategic significance of EU-China relations in the future world, the EU hoped to strengthen relations with China and to work out a strategic plan on the arrangement of more meetings between the leaders of EU and China.

During his visit, Premier Wen had the first meeting between China and EU leaders since the Lisbon Treaty came into effect. It will play a guiding role in the planning of future China-EU relations.

In talks with EU leaders, Wen fully affirmed the achievements in Sino-EU relations.

Addressing doubts and some distorted comments in the international community and inside EU about China's development, Wen used detailed facts and figures to convincingly presented China's great contribution to the stable recovery and growth of the global economy through its own development. He also elaborated China's position on issues such as exchange rate, investment environment and the export of raw materials.

Wen reiterated China's adherence to the reform and opening-up policy and emphasized that the EU and China should take care of each other's core interests and deepen cooperation in all-fields, sending a strong signal on pushing ahead the development of the bilateral relations as well as the importance of the meeting mechanism of leaders from the two sides.