Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday called on China and the European Union (EU) to "stand high and see far" in shaping the future.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (C), European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (R) and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt (L), whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, meet with the press after the 12th China-EU summit in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Nov. 30, 2009. [Han Yuqing/Xinhua]

Wen made the remarks at a joint press conference after the 12th China-EU summit. He co-chaired the meeting with European Commission President Barroso and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

He said as all-round strategic partners, China and the EU should not only make joint efforts in coping with global financial crisis and overcoming the difficulties, but also should stand high and see far in shaping the future, in a bid to promote the establishment of a just and rational international political and economic new order.

He called on the two sides to abandon discrimination, confrontation and containment and promote equality, dialogue and cooperation.

He said the two sides should enhance mutual trust, and always be friends but not opponents, should take a cleat-cut stand against hegemony and promote a multipolar world in support of multilateralism, should take the development as the primary task and follow the path of common development, should respect each other's cultural tradition, social system and values with the spirit of openness, and achieve innovation and progress in learning from each other, should dedicate to resolving the deep-seated structural problems in the international relations and promoting the world harmony and sustainable development.

"Those issues should be the strategic direction that guides the China-EU relations," he stressed.

Wen said China and the EU should continuously improve the dialogue mechanism, innovate the means of cooperation, enrich the content of cooperation, so as to inject new vitality to the China-EU relations.

He called on the two sides to properly handle the trade frictions and abandon the trade protectionism. He said China hopes the EU would relax control over high-tech export to China so as to achieve the balance of trade between the two sides.

The two sides should encourage and support mutual investment, enhance cooperation in such areas as intellectual property protection, facilitation of trade and investment and small and medium-sized enterprises, he said.

The two sides should make use of the bilateral mechanism to expand cooperation in the fields of energy-saving, the improvement of energy efficiency, the development of renewable energy and the exploitation and utilization of clean coal and coalbed methane, said Wen, adding this is conducive to coping with financial crisis and climate change.

He suggested the two sides to hold the first China-EU Cultural Summit Forum and the China-EU Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition and Symposium, and make the year 2011 as the "China-EU Youth Exchange Year" and establish a China-EU youth ministerial-level meeting mechanism.

China welcomes the EU to enhance pragmatic cooperation with its provinces and autonomous regions, he noted.

Wen emphasized that China and the EU should continue to maintain the strength of the economic stimulus package, enhance the coordination of the macro-economy policy and financial supervison, in a bid to boost the comprehensive recovery of world economy and the sustainable development.

He also called on the two sides to pay more attention to the development of the developing countries. He said the two sides should fulfill the commitment of providing assistance to the developing nations and enhance those nations' capacity of self-development. China and the EU should make concerted efforts to expand the aggregate demand of the world so as to find a fundamental solution to the world economic imbalance.

The 12th China-EU summit began in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu province, Monday morning. Initiated in 1998, the China-EU summit is the highest-level political consultation mechanism between the two sides.