BEIJING, November 30 (RIA Novosti) - Climate change is to become the key issue at the 12th EU-China summit, which will take place in China's eastern city of Nanjing on Monday, just a week before the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency until the end of the year, will take part in the summit. The Chinese Delegation will be headed by Premier Wen Jiabao.
"From this EU-China Summit we intend to send a strong message on our shared determination to face and overcome together global challenges," Jose Manuel Barroso was quoted in a press-release as saying.
Pointing to the key topic of the upcoming talks, Barroso said: "Only a week before the Copenhagen UN conference on Climate Change, we will stress the need for an ambitious and global result."
Besides the issue of climate change, EU and Chinese leaders will also discuss measures aimed at fighting the economic crisis, bilateral relations between China and the European Union, and a range of international issues.
Six documents are expected to be signed during the summit, including the Near Zero Emission Coal Project and EU-China Environmental Governance Programme.
China, which produces 80% of its electricity from coal, is the world's second largest greenhouse gas emitter after the U.S. However, the country is leading the way in the search for alternative energy sources and technological solutions to clean up its coal power plants.
The Chinese State Council said on Thursday China intends to cut carbon intensity by 40-45% by 2020 compared to 2005 levels.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference will take place on December 7-18 in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. The goal of the Copenhagen talks is to set new targets for cutting greenhouse gases, and to raise funds to help poor countries tackle effects of global warming.
The conference is expected to see the signing of a new international document to replace the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, some elements of which expire in 2012.
