Premier Wen : China aims at overall trade balance

China is not intentionally pursuing a trade surplus but is aiming for an overall balance of trade, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday told a China-EU Business Summit.

"We have, and will continue to put in place, measures aimed at expanding imports and promoting a more balanced bilateral trade," Wen said.

"The European Union (EU)'s exports to China have grown at an annual rate of more than 20 percent for two consecutive years," Wen said, "much higher than the 15 percent rate of the EU's general export growth."

China and the EU have set up a dialogue mechanism on expanding EU exports to China and redressing the trade imbalance in June, 2007.

Wen said that the mechanism will help the two sides discuss on more active measures to promote and facilitate trade, in a bid to further improve the trade balance situation.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the regular meeting mechanism between Chinese and EU leaders.

The EU has become the largest trading partner and export market for China, whereas China is now its second largest trading partner.

Bilateral trade volume has quadrupled over the past decade and is expected to exceed 330 billion U.S. dollars this year, Wen said.