Senior officials from China and the European Commission pledged here on Thursday they will try to complete their talks on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) as soon as possible.

On Thursday, a Chinese delegation headed by Kong Quan, China's assistant foreign minister, held the first steering meeting on PCA talks together with their European colleague headed by EC external relations Director General Eneko Landaburu.

According to Chinese diplomats, the two sides have exchanged views on the guidance, principles, framework, structure of the PCA talks, and they have reached consensus.

They also highlighted the significance of signing the PCA and deepening the EU-China comprehensive strategic partnership.

They vowed to take an active, open and practical approach to accelerate the negotiation process and finalize the talks as soon as possible, so as to lay down a solid legal basis for boosting the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership.

In September 2006, China and the EU agreed to launch the talks on the PCA. Earlier this year, EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner visited China and formally launched the PCA talks.