On July 24, 2008, Ambassador Song Zhe, Head of the Mission of the People's Republic of China to the European Communities, held a meeting with Mr. Guenther Verheugen, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry.

The two sides appreciated the development of Sino-EU relations and expressed that it is critical to handle the China-EU relations from a strategic and long-term view. Followed by Ambassador Song's detailed introduction on the China's domestic economic situation, it was a view-exchange between the Ambassador and the Commissioner on China-EU cooperation in the fields of economic and trade relations, energy saving and environmental protection as well as the current world economic situation.

Regarding the environment issue, Ambassador Song stated that the Chinese government attaches great importance to environmental protection, one of the basic national policies, with sticking to the path of sustainable development, resource conservation and environmental protection. In this regard a lot of work has been done effectively in recent years. To promote energy-saving emission reduction and increased energy efficiency in an active way is in line with the common interests of China and the EU. The EU is proud of its advanced technologies of energy conservation and environmental protection and has accumulated rich experience in management by setting up a series of sectional policies in industry, transport, construction and civil development sectors. China is willing to learn from and draw on the experience of the EU and strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the EU in the above-mentioned fields.