AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
London: British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao are to hold talks Wednesday including on strengthening trade ties, energy policy and resolving the Iran nuclear crisis, officials said. “A big feature will be energy and climate change and also the rapidly growing trade and investment relationship we have with China,” a spokesman for Blair's Downing Street office told AFP.
The discussions in London were to focus on a range of international issues, including the Iran nuclear crisis — in which China is being pressed to support a threat of UN sanctions — as well as Africa and the Middle East, he said.
Blair visited Beijing in September, where he said China's growing economic power must be matched by improvement in its record on democracy and human rights.
The talks would not launch eye-catching new initiatives but instead focus on expanding dialogue between the countries and taking forward the working agenda fostered in Beijing, the Downing Street spokesman said.
Blair and Wen were to hold one-on-one talks, round-table discussions and have lunch together.
Wen was also to meet Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, finance minister Gordon Brown and business leaders and the China Task Force, established in 2003 to broaden and deepen the relationship between Britain and China.
The Chinese premier's foreign tour, between September 9 and 16, takes in Finland, Britain, Germany and Tajikistan, including the ninth China-European Union summit and the sixth Asia-Europe Meeting in Helsinki.
