Closer cooperation between the European Union (EU) and China is vital for meeting global challenges more effectively, Finnish President Tarja Halonen said yesterday.

"Political dialogue between the EU and China is strategically important, and we need to face a number of global challenges together," she told China Daily. Halonen is in China to attend the 7th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) that starts in Beijing on Friday.

Leaders of a number of countries, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will discuss pressing global issues at the meeting.

"Of course, the current financial crisis will be discussed," Halonen said. "ASEM's open and evolutionary character is well suited to strengthen common goals in the fields of economic relations, the environment and social development."

Intensifying and expanding links with emerging Asian countries, especially China, is "vital in the current globalizing world", she said.

Finland, which hosted the previous ASEM in 2006, has been advocating closer collaboration between Asia and Europe, which account for half of the world's GDP and almost 60 percent of its population.

Halonen will speak at the opening session of ASEM, and address a plenary session on sustainable development. She will hold bilateral talks with President Hu Jintao, too.

Finland will strengthen its economic ties with China, she said. The two countries' bilateral trade volume hit a record $10.3 billion last year, making China Finland's largest trading partner in Asia and the fifth in the world.

"China's economic and trade policy choices are important to Finland. And we want to expand our economic relations," Halonen said. "Our countries are geographically far apart, but economically Finland is very much present in China."

Finland is seeking closer cooperation with China in fields such as environmental protection and energy conservation. "These areas are crucial to solving some of the most pressing problems that your country and the rest of the world face," Halonen said.

(China Daily October 22, 2008)