PROMOTING PRAGMATIC INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Li attended the sixth Hamburg Summit during his stay in Germany. The meeting, drawing a fleet of political, economic and academic leaders, discussed key issues in China-Europe economic relations.

Over 500 participants from China and Europe gathered at the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and exchanged views through 10 keynote speeches and panel discussions.

Topics at the summit covered future of bilateral trade cooperation, China's increasing investment in Europe, urbanization as part of the Chinese reform strategy, China's greening economy and how to increase the popularity of Chinese brands.

Li's visit to Italy also came on the eve of the World Food Day, which falls on Oct. 16 every year.

In a speech at the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Li said his country will donate 50 million dollars in the next five years.

The new fund from the Chinese government, said the premier, will be used to promote South-South cooperation.

As the biggest developing country in the world, China will always be an active force in maintaining food security, and is ready to work with other countries to create a hunger-free and poverty-free world with sustainable development, he added.

The Chinese premier said hunger relief and poverty reduction, two major challenges to the whole world, are a shared responsibility of the international community.

China's fresh efforts and initiatives to enhance pragmatic international and regional cooperation also highlighted the 10th Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in Milan, amid calls by other ASEM leaders for promotion of cooperation in multiple fields.

Speaking at the two-day summit, Li called on Asian and European countries to safeguard peace and security and boost interconnectivity so as to promote development of the world's largest landmass.

He suggested that nations in the region stick to the spirit of openness, inclusiveness and shared destiny, and work together to construct a new type of Asia-Europe comprehensive partnership dedicated to peace and development.

In a three-point proposal, Li urged Asian and European countries to jointly safeguard regional peace, security and development, improve Asia-Europe interconnectivity, and further liberalize trade and investment, so as to accelerate the establishment of a Eurasian single market.

"The ASEM summit has offered a good opportunity to bring the Silk Road Economic Zone and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road conceptions into Asia-Europe cooperation," said Cui Hongjian, director of the Department for European Studies of the China Institute of International Studies.