The European Union (EU) said Tuesday in Brussels it hopes to start negotiations on a new bilateral partnership agreement with China later this year to replace the current agreement signed in 1985.

"Both the EU and China have changed beyond recognition in 30 years and so has our relationship," European Commissioner on external relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said. "Our existing Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement simply doesn't live up to the dynamism of today's partnership."

Ferrero-Waldner, together with Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn and a representative of Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, will pay an official visit to China on May 11-12 to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of EU-China diplomatic ties.

"It's time to reflect the vibrancy of our relations with an ambitious new agreement that will help us move to a fully-fledged strategic partnership," Ferrero-Waldner was quoted as saying in a press release issued by the European Commission, the EU's executive body.

The Seventh China-EU Summit held in the Netherlands last December set the goal of launching talks on the new-generation partnership agreement to replace the Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement which covers only economic and trade ties as well as the EU-China cooperation program.

In an earlier interview with Xinhua, China's ambassador to the EU, Guan Chengyuan, also said China and the EU were making political and legal preparations for starting talks on the new partnership agreement.

"Both sides are conducting the feasibility study on the agreement," the ambassador said, without giving a timetable for the talks.

Source: Xinhua