"The event is the largest business activity ever held in the history of EU-China economic and trade cooperation," said Yu Xiaosong, chairman of the China Council for Promoting International Trade (CCPIT).

It is part of the efforts to promote economic and trade relations between the two sides, Yu said.

The Chinese Government and the European Commission are making a concerted effort to resolve the damaging bilateral trade disputes which erupted last January.

A new round of negotiations to tackle the problem has been scheduled for later this month. This was arranged during the visit by the European Commissioner for Trade Pascal Lamy to China in mid-October.

It is expected that the Partenariat will be pivotal in improving bilateral relations.

The objective of the EU-China Partenariat is to forge long-term business partnerships between Chinese and EU companies, by providing a platform to meet and discuss concrete cooperation projects.

"New trade and investment opportunities offered by China's entry into the WTO last December will enable Chinese and European companies to strengthen their links and enter into partnerships and agreements in many sectors of the economy," said Hans-Friedrich Beseler, special adviser to the European Commission.

He said that the innovative and competitive nature of European companies will make them ideal partners for their Chinese counterparts pursuing opportunities and challenges brought by China's WTO membership.

Jointly initiated by the European Commission and the Chinese government and organized by the CCPIT, the event is the fourth of its kind in the European Commission's Asia Partenariat series supported by the Asia Investment Program.

A total of 384 Chinese SMEs across the country will participate in the two-day event and hold individual meetings with their counterparts, 296 SMEs from the union's 15 members.

The trade fair comprises seven major sectors including food and beverages, information technology, electrical machines and appliances, engineering support, environmental protection, machinery and equipment and metal products.

(China Daily November 8, 2002)