GERMANY: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has opened the Sino-European economic summit of the Chamber of Commerce of Hamburg

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Hamburg on Wednesday (September 13) where he opened the economic summit "China meets Europe" organised by Hamburg's chamber of commerce. The Chamber of Commerce Hamburg, representing more than 130,000 Hamburg businesses, expects more than 350 economic, political and scientific leaders to attend its second economic summit between China and Europe. The main topics to be discussed at the summit are transportation, logistics, energy and the environment. Among the speakers at the summit are former Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the founder of the state of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, XU Kuangdi, the head of the Chinese industry association CFIE, the former Australian prime minister, Robert Hawke, the head of the electronics company Lenovo, Yang Yuanqing, and former UN environmental director Klaus Töpfer. On Thursday (September 14), Wen Jiabao is to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Premier's talks with Merkel are expected to focus on concerns over rampant piracy in China of everything from Hollywood blockbusters to designer bags. Wen said China needed time despite having set up a legal framework to protect copyrights, patents and trademarks. Wen Jiabao in the past has pledged progress on sustainable economic growth, currency reform and democracy but stressed change would be gradual rather than radical. China's economy, which has grown 9 percent a year over the past three decades and more than 10 percent in the past three years, faces unbalanced development and environmental and energy constraints, but Wen was confident growth was far from over. Wen also sought to flex China's diplomatic muscle by urging Iran to heed international concerns over its weapons programmes but said dialogue, not sanctions, was the proper means of securing solutions to the Iran and North Korean nuclear crises. The Chinese Premier came under pressure to do more to rein in Iran and North Korea at the meeting of Asian and European leaders in Helsinki at the start of his week-long European tour, which began on Saturday (September 09). In a telling departure from China's long-scripted policy of calling for dialogue and restraint, Wen urged Tehran to be responsive to global diplomatic efforts to resolve its nuclear crisis.

ITN Source | September 15, 2006

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