国际英语新闻：Yuan likely to come up at Sino-EU summit

BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- The European Union (EU) is very likely to pressure China on currency appreciation at the upcoming Sino-EU summit in Brussels.

The EU hinted in a document released at the end of a one-day summit on Thursday that currency policy was high on the list of strategic interests the EU planned to pursue when Chinese and EU leaders meet in October.

"In view of the EU-China summit in particular, the European Union should actively pursue its strategic interests, (including) the dialogue on exchange rate policies," the document said.

President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy said at a press conference on Thursday the EU had already come up with unified ideas on what would top its agenda regarding the EU-China relationship though it was yet to work out an overall strategy.

"We have precise ideas on how to position ourselves vis--vis China (as reflected in the document)," said Van Rompuy.

"So thanks to today's discussion, when the president of the European Commission and I meet the Chinese Premier in Brussels, three weeks from now, we will not speak just for Brussels, we can speak on behalf of the 27 (EU member states)."

Apart from currency policies, a spate of other issues such as the promotion of bilateral trade, market access for goods and services, investment conditions, and the protection of intellectual property rights are high on the EU's list of strategic interests.

The EU also wants to discuss the opening up of public procurement markets and stronger discipline in the field of export subsidies when Premier Wen Jiabao visits Brussels.

Belgian Ambassador to China Patrick Nijs told China Daily that the EU-China summit is taking place in a new context, brought about by the Lisbon Treaty.