On May 10, 2004, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council attended and addressed the welcoming banquet in his honor by China-Britain Business Council. He shared with representatives from the UK business community the situation of China's economic development. When talking about China-UK economic and trade cooperation, Wen pointed out that in today's world, economic globalization is going increasingly in-depth, new technological revolution is just unfolding,and international industrial and technical transfer has been accelerated. In this context, China-UK cooperation should be all round and from a high starting point. By being all round, it means comprehensive cooperation covering a variety of areas. By high starting point, it means high-level and high-quality cooperation. To this end, Premier Wen put forward a six-point proposal:

----China welcomes the business community in the United Kingdom to actively participate in the transformation and reconstruction of the old industrial bases in Northeast China. It has been a vital and urgent task for China in the process of industrial restructuring to upgrade and promote traditional manufacturing industry with advanced technology and managerial expertise. The United Kingdom enjoys rich experience and abundant technologies in the upgrading of traditional industries, which provides precious opportunities for bilateral cooperation.

----China would like to enhance exchanges and cooperation with the United Kingdom in terms of financial stability and financial services. As an important financial center of the world, London boasts unique advantages in capital operation and financial regulation. China welcomes the financial circle of the United Kingdom to actively participate in the reform and development of China's banking, securities and insurance sectors.

----China hopes to strengthen energy cooperation with the United Kingdom. China is committed to developing new energies and promoting the efficiency of energy utilization. China would like to expand bilateral cooperation in such areas as the exploration and development of oil and gas resources, the research and development of energy-conserving technologies as well as the utilization of new energies and renewable energies.

----China encourages enhanced exchanges and deepened cooperation between the two sides in the high-tech field. There is huge room for China and the United Kingdom to cooperate in such high-tech areas as biotech, IT and new materials. The two sides may also conduct cooperation in agricultural breeding, the prevention and treatment of serious diseases and food safety so as to step up the sharing of technological resources, promote mutual opening of high-tech programs and collaborate in important international science cooperation projects.

----China expects various forms of educational cooperation as well as enhanced cultural exchanges. China would like to learn from the experience of the United Kingdom in building research-oriented universities and colleges and support substantive cooperation between universities of the two countries in teaching and research, especially in joint training of high-level professionals. China also looks forward to expanding cultural exchanges and promoting mutual understanding through various forms.

----China supports the two countries to intensify exchanges and cooperation in environmental protection. Environmental protection is a basic state policy for China whose objective is to ensure each and every Chinese to be able to enjoy clean water, clear air and safe food. We will further open the market of environmental protection infrastructure and industry in a bid to encourage foreign investors, including those from the United Kingdom, to be involved in China's environmental protection and ecological construction.

Premier Wen stressed that facing with a new historical opportunity for China-UK cooperation, both sides need to look into the future from a strategic perspective, continuously expand common interests between the two sides and properly address differences and each other's concerns so as to continuously deepen bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership.