▲Jia Qinglin, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference, met with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti
in Rome; both leaders attended the signing ceremony for cooperation project
agreements concerning telecommunications, new energy automobiles, etc.
▲The 5th meeting of China-EU Forum Hamburg Summit was opened in
Hamburg, Germany.
▲The 2nd China-EU Forum co-organized by the Mission of China to the European
Union and Belgian think tank”Friends of Europe”, etc. was held in Brussels.November 30: 2012 Year of China-EU Cultural Dialogue was concluded in
Beijing.2013
January 14: China and Germany signed a letter of intent for expanding
renewable energy cooperation.
January 18: Invited by the Head of the EU Delegation to China, Ambassador
MarkusEderer, the Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Yang Jiechi met with
ambassadors in China of 27 EU member states and Croatia, which would join
the EU soon, to exchange views about China-EU relations and hot regional and
international issues of common concern.
January 24: China-France Year of Language, France’s Year of the Chinese
Language activities were concluded in Paris.
March 9: Chinese President Hu Jintao exchanged congratulatory messages with
Spanish King Juan Carlos I to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establish-
ment of bilateral diplomatic relations.
April 6: Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Finnish Sauli Niinisto in
Sanya, Hainan Province. Both sides announced the upgrading of China-Finland
relations to a future-oriented new cooperative partnership.
April 10: The 8th China-France Spring of Culture was opened in Beijing.
April 12: Chinese President Xi Jinping met with French Foreign Affairs Minister
Laurent Fabius in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing.▲The inaugural ceremony for New Huadu Business School (Switzerland)—the
first Chinese business school independently registered in Europe—was held in
Zurich, Switzerland.April 13: Prime Minister of Iceland Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir kicked off an official
visit to China. Premier Li Keqiang held talks with Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir. Both
sides signed theFree Trade Treaty between China and Icelandand released the
Joint Declaration between the Government of the People’s Republic of China
and the Government of Iceland Concerning Comprehensively Deepening
Bilateral Cooperation.
April 22: The two-day 4th China-EU Political Party Summit was held in Suzhou.252 Appendix: Chronicle of Events over Ten Years (January, 2003–September, 2013)