Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will depart on Apri 7 for the 21st China-EU leaders' meeting in Brussels.

Chinese ambassador to the EU says Premier Li's visit is expected to strengthen the sound ties between China and the continent.

The China-EU leaders' meeting this week will be the fifth of its kind to be co-chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, European Council President Donald Tusk, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

It will be the last meeting between the two sides before the European Union elections next month.

Ambassador Zhang Ming, head of the Chinese Mission to the EU [Photo: chinamission.be]

Chinese ambassador to the European Union, Zhang Ming, says the positive engagement between the two sides has been helped by the leadership on both sides.

During President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Europe, he met with the leaders of several European countries.

Ambassador Zhang says that this demonstrates China's efforts to strengthen its ties with the region, which shares broad common interests.

Zhang added that with the implementation of the Foreign Investment Law in China, more opportunities will be created for economic and trade cooperation between China and Europe.

"Last month, the National People's Congress passed the law on foreign investment, which is another major step taken by China to comprehensively advance its reform and opening-up. It will significantly promote investment liberalization and facilitation between China and the European Union, and create greater opportunities for future China-EU cooperation," Zhang said.

Ambassador Zhang also spoke about the role of the Belt and Road Initiative in bringing the two sides closer together.

"Italy and Luxembourg recently signed memorandums of understanding with China to jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative, increasing to 22 the number of these agreements signed by governments or institutions in Europe. By the end of last year, 13 thousand trips were made by freight trains running between China and the European Union, reaching 49 cities in 15 European countries. Many enterprises in Europe have carried out high-level cooperation with partners in China, jointly exploring global markets, which has achieved fruitful results," Zhang noted.

Ambassador Zhang also spoke about the prominent role of the ties between China and the European Union in helping to uphold their common positions, including the defense of multilateralism.

"China and the European Union are strengthening their coordination in the United Nations system. The two sides agreed to give full play to the WTO, IMF, World Bank, G20, the Asia Europe Meeting, and other global and regional multilateral mechanisms, to resolve international disputes through dialogue, work together to cope with climate change, and promote sustainable development. This all conforms to the trends of our times and is in line with the expectations of the international community. These also form the foundation to consolidate relations between China and the European Union," the ambassador said.

Besides Brussels, Premier Li Keqiang will also head to Croatia for an official visit and the eighth leaders' meeting of China and Central and Eastern European countries.