BRUSSELS, July 3  -- "Synergies between the Junker Investment Plan and the Chinese 'One Belt One Road' initiative could be very close in various strategic sectors," Gianni Pittella, President of the S&D (The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats) group in the European Parliament told Xinhua in a recent interview just after the China-EU summit in Brussels.

According to Pittella, various sectors like energy, telecoms, digital agenda, research, logistic but also culture and environment could benefit from the Chinese involvement in the Junker Investment Plan.

The Juncker Plan is the key investment plan, proposed by the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, is supposed to unlock 315 billion Euros to finance projects to re-launch the EU's economy.

The MEP underlined also the cooperation with China on defense, he said: "We share with China the common goal of respect for stability, peace and security are important parts in the cooperation between Europe and China in the framework of the Strategic Agenda for Cooperation 2020."

He remembered that a close cooperation on security and defense has been carried out through important operations like the one against piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

"We established contacts with Beijing on the mission in Mail where the Chinese participation was relevant; there are then joint trainings, seminars and exchange of intelligence information's. For the moment we have bilateral relations that could be clearly strengthen,'' Pittella stressed.

Stressing the need for EU and China to be closer at world level, Pittella said: "We are both key actors in the global governance with a common need for a strategic collaboration. Now we have to work together to confront the new global challenges but also together towards the great opportunities that the globalization is offering to us."

Pittella then underlined the most important results achieved at the China-EU summit - the political determination shown on the BIT negotiations, the interest for the Junker Plan and the sincere attitude in order to arrive in the next climate summit of December in Paris to a binding agreement in the fight against climate change.