China and Britain will sign agreements worth US$2.4 billion in the fields of aerospace technology and banking next week.

Christopher Hum, British ambassador to China, said on Friday in Beijing that the protocols will be reached on Tuesday during British Prime Minister Tony Blair's visit to China, following a talk with his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, in Beijing.

No further details were available on Friday night.

Hum said a very solid personal relationship has developed between the two leaders. This will be their third meeting as prime ministers.

Hum noted a business delegation of 37 people, mainly chiefs or chief executive officers of British companies, will be in Blair's entourage. They cover a wide range of companies in areas such as banking, insurance, manufacturing, engineering and retailing.

Blair will arrive in Beijing on Monday to attend the eighth EU-China Summit.

Serge Abou, ambassador of the EU delegation of the European Commission, said the summit will present several achievements.

A wealth of agreements are expected to be sealed in such fields as employment and social benefits, space exploration, geographical indication and maritime transport.

Abou said the EU has decided to invest 55 million euros (US$68 million) in two projects to protect the biodiversity of China's two biggest waterways the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.

He noted that there would be another significant loan worth 550 million euros (US$680 million) offered by the European Investment Bank to China for the expansion of Beijing Capital International Airport.

Textile solution imminent?

Officials from China and the European Union (EU) are confident the problem of Chinese textiles' stockpiled at EU customs can be resolved in the near future.

"The problem will be resolved; that is for certain," Serge Abou, the European Union's ambassador to China, told a press conference on Friday.

After the EU negotiation team left Beijing, when talks aimed at ending the blocking of above-quota Chinese textile products failed, discussions concerning the textile conflicts continued through Abou's delegation in Beijing.

The ambassador said the textile issue is rather complex in its technicalities.

"I believe, and I am confident, we will be able to find a solution," Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said, adding that China and the EU were still earnestly discussing the problem.

Abou said that officials were hoping to find a solution before the EU-China summit in Beijing, but if they are unsuccessful, the forum will not be affected.

The second EU-China Business Summit will begin from next Monday in Beijing, during the Eighth EU-China Summit.

The business summit, which will be attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and senior officials from both sides, will also attract about 500 business executives from China and the EU, representing such companies as Shell, Ericsson, Airbus and Haier.

"Nearly all of the companies are Global Fortune 500 or Chinese top 500," said Sun Yongfu, director of the European Affairs Department of China's Ministry of Commerce.

The full-day business summit includes four workshops: "Building a Brand and Technology-Based Market Society in China," "Business Engagement With the Community," "Internationalization of Enterprises" and "Looking Ahead to 2010: An EU-China Economic and Financial Outlook."

The format of the previous gathering in the Hague, the Netherlands, would be continued in this year's summit, he said.

"The key goal of the summit is to facilitate an information exchange between business leaders and provide interaction with key politicians from both Europe and China," said Serge Janssens de Varebeke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, one of the co-organizers of the summit.

"It will enjoy a good balance between business, politics, China and Europe."

In another development, the spokesman of Ministry of Commerce Chong Quan said on Friday China strongly opposed the US decision to launch safeguard measures on bra and synthetic filament fabric imports from China, restricting the annual growth rate of these two categories under 7.5 per cent.

"China reserves the rights for further actions within the World Trade Organization framework," he said.

The US Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreement announced the curbs on Thursday and postponed the decision on curbs in four other categories of Chinese textiles to October 1.

Source: China Daily