The European Commission this week hosted three high-level meetings gathering senior representatives of leading Chinese, European financial institutions and information and communication technology (ICT) companies as well as a high-level delegation of the Chinese Mission to the EU led by Chinese Ambassador Yang Yanyi.

Several top EU officials met with the Sino-European delegation in order to strengthen bilateral economic and investment relations in ICT.

"The relations between China and EU have evolved substantially in these years. I have listened with great interest to the idea of creating an EU-China platform on ICT, telecom and internet issues, and these topics could also be discussed during the next EU-China summit," said EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, who will soon visit China to mark the 40th anniversary of official EU- China diplomatic relations.

Five priority areas for cooperation between China and the EU were identified during the meetings. Among them were encouraging Chinese investments in advanced European digital infrastructure and services through public-private partnerships involving European and Chinese ICT players and financial institutions.