China and the Belgium-Luxemburg Economic Union (BLEU) agreed here Tuesday to continue working together for closer economic and trade relations between the two sides.

The consensus was reached at a meeting of the China-BLEU joint economic and trade committee co-chaired by Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng and Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Steven Vanackere.

The two sides also reached much consensus on boosting economic and trade ties between China and the European Union, opposing trade protectionism, and pushing forward the Doha round of trade negotiations.

At the meeting, Gao said that both Belgium and Luxemburg are China's vital economic and trade partners within the European Union.

Despite a decrease in bilateral trade last year due to the financial crisis, China's imports from Belgium and Luxemburg have grown rapidly since the beginning of this year, making bilateral trade more balanced, he said.

Although China's current investment in the BLEU is still limited, it has been in recent years growing at a fast pace and expanding into more and more fields, he said.

China and the BLEU have cooperated effectively in transportation, animal and plant quanrantine, finance, customs and intellectual property rights protection, Gao said, adding that China hopes Belgium and Luxemburg will help China win the European Union's recognition of its full market economy status at an early date.

Vanackere told the meeting that there is still much potential in the development of economic and trade ties between China and the BLEU, which have enjoyed rapid growth in recent years.

The BLEU stands ready to work with China to promote economic growth, diversify bilateral trade, expand the BLEU's investment in China, he said, adding that the BLEU welcomes Chinese investment in the union and will continue making efforts to facilitate two-way investment.