Bilateral dialogue: European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso meets Chief Executive Donald Tsang.

Hong Kong and the European Commission should boost co-operation through a structured dialogue.

This was the joint message today from Chief Executive Donald Tsang and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, pledging to assess options and recommend ways forward. They said Hong Kong and the European Union are important economic partners with much common interest. 

Meeting today, they agreed it mutually beneficial to formulate a more structured dialogue between the two sides, and useful to periodically review its progress at the leadership level.

For the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in Hong Kong in December, Mr Tsang and Mr Barroso said both parties attach great importance to achieving a substantive outcome from it. They hope it will pave the way for the successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round and have asked senior officials to work towards this objective.