Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Europe next week will be a "journey of confidence", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.

Wen's 7-day tour, starting on Tuesday, will focus on trade and economic cooperation between China and the European Union (EU) amid the global financial crisis, Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Hongbo told a briefing.

"This visit by Premier Wen can be called a journey of confidence, showing China's determination to reform and open up, and to promote economic development," Wu said. He added that the trip will also help develop policies to deal with the global slowdown.

"The international community is confronting the financial crisis and this is also an opportunity for all countries to have new cooperation," he added.

Wen will first go to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, then Germany, Spain and Britain. He will also visit the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

The visit will be the first by a Chinese leader since Sino-EU ties were soured when French President Nicolas Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama last month.

Beijing postponed an annual summit with the EU to show its anger with Sarkozy, with France also missing from Wen's itinerary this time.

Wu said skipping France was due to a tight schedule and said he "had not received an invitation" from Paris. He also made it plain that the onus to repair Sino-French ties is now on Paris.

Brushing off the discord with France, Wu said Premier Wen would meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling in London to discuss financial cooperation.

But, with ongoing financial turmoil, a Chinese analyst singled out London as the most important stop of Wen's tour.

Wu Baiyi, a European studies expert, told China Daily that a successful dialogue between Beijing and London would help push forward reforms of the current international financial system, which both sides agreed on at last year's G20 summit in Washington.

(China Daily January 23, 2009)