BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has called for cooperation on maintaining multilateralism, vaccine and green development between China and Europe.

Li made the remarks on Friday while attending a high-level virtual dialogue with European business leaders via video link.

Li said China will remain committed to opening up and work to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. He called on all parties to meet each other halfway, jointly safeguard international consensus such as multilateralism, and follow the rules-based multilateral trading system and the principle of fair competition.

The completion of China-EU investment agreement negotiations demonstrated the joint efforts the two sides have made in upholding international rules and common aspiration for pushing economic and trade cooperation to a higher level, Li said.

Citing the successful cooperation between European and Chinese companies on vaccine production, Li said it once again confirmed that maintaining the stability of the global industrial and supply chains is of key importance for work and production resumption in all countries, and safeguarding the health and well-being of human beings.

"China will continue to strengthen cooperation with all parties on vaccine and drug research and development, so as to better safeguard the health and safety of the people," Li said.

On tackling climate change, Li said China, as a major manufacturing country, is committed to making use of existing stock of resources and insisting on promoting the shift to low-carbon energy and green transformation of the economy and society in the process of advancing high-quality development.

There are broad prospects for China-Europe cooperation in green development, digital economy and smart manufacturing, Li said, expressing the hope that the European side will open wider to China in the fields including clean energy technology.

"China is willing to strengthen cooperation in relevant fields with the European side to better benefit all mankind," Li said.

The high-level dialogue was moderated by Peter Mandelson, ex-European trade commissioner and former British first secretary of state, and attended by business leaders representing close to 30 leading European companies including VOLVO, Airbus, JCDecaux, AstraZeneca, L'Oreal, BASF, and SAP.

Participants including Mandelson said that the pandemic further highlights the importance of multilateralism and global cooperation, and a strong Europe-China partnership will lead the international community to jointly respond to global challenges.

Noting that the completion of EU-China investment agreement negotiations released positive signals, they said the European business community looks forward to advancing the approval and full implementation of the investment agreement, and is willing to expand cooperation with China in green development, digital transformation, financial investment, and climate change.