EU-China agree on growing importance of strategic ties

[Spazito]

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese and European leaders acknowledged the growing strategic importance of Sino-EU ties and agreed to pursue greater economic cooperation at their annual summit here.



Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who currently holds the rotating European Union (news - web sites) presidency, heads the EU team and is chairing the one-day meeting alongside Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.


"It is fair to say that Sino-EU relations, as they have developed up 'til this point, are increasingly mature and strategic in nature," said Wen as he greeted Berlusconi, European Commission (news - web sites) President Romano Prodi and EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana.

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Significantly, China and Europe are to sign a 200 million euro (230 million dollars) deal to allow China to join the EU's Galileo satellite navigation system, which could rival the US-developed GPS system.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&ncid=1504&e=19&u=/afp/20031030/ts_afp/china_eu_summit_031030115735

[Spazito]

1. Kick

because I mistakenly posted this again, thinking it was a new article