Blair: EU-China ties 'immensely important'
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-09-06 07:02

Aside from the summit, Blair will hold separate talks with Hu and other Chinese leaders on Tuesday before heading to India.

Travelling with him are 40-odd top executives from such British and European companies as Airbus, BP, British American Tobacco, Deutsche Post, GlaxoSmithKline, Rolls Royce and Royal Dutch Shell.

Also in Beijing are European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

During the talks, the two sides agreed on a new strategic deal replacing an earlier outdated pact on economic and social issues.

The summit was boosted by the settlement of a trade row that has left 80 million Chinese-made garments piled up in European seaports, unable to be delivered to shops under a quota pact agreed in June.

A deal was struck to end the dispute after lengthy talks between Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, senior Chinese and European officials said.

As well as textiles the summit discussed issues such as political, economic and energy cooperation, and China's participation in the Galileo space project and the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER).

Several important trade and investment deals are to be signed in Beijing on Tuesday, including one that will see Europe's Airbus consortium deliver a fresh batch of aircraft to an as-yet-unidentified Chinese carrier.

"It's not an insubstantial amount of money," Blair's spokesman said.

Solana told Xinhua that it remains Europe's intention to lift the arms embargo "as soon as reasonably practical" -- but not this week.

There is also a cultural element to Blair's trip, with the likes of ballerina Darcy Bussell, football great Sir Bobby Robson, track star Colin Jackson and architect Sir Norman Foster holding "master classes" in Beijing.

The trip is the second to Asia in two years for Blair, not counting a snap visit to Singapore in July when he persuaded the International Olympic Committee to grant London the 2012 Olympic Games.

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