On 19 February 2020, Ambassador Zhang Ming, Head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, met with Mr. Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries.

Ambassador Zhang briefed on the latest development in the COVID-19 outbreak and the positive results brought by China's response efforts and thanked the EU for its support and assistance in this regard. He noted that China would seek stronger with the international community in an open, transparent and responsible way to prevail over the epidemic at an early date.

Mr. Sinkevičius expressed his appreciation for China's tremendous efforts to combat the epidemic, and reiterated the EU's readiness to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with China and continue to provide assistance for China.

The two sides also exchanged views about China-EU cooperation in the green and blue fields, and expressed their willingness to take this year's high-level exchanges between China and the EU as an opportunity to step up their pragmatic cooperation in such areas as climate change, biodiversity and ocean governance. The EU supports the convening of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in Kunming and is ready to work with China to make it a success.