On the evening of December 1, 2019, Premier Li Keqiang held telephone talks with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at request.

Li Keqiang congratulated Ursula von der Leyen on assuming her new position and spoke highly of the current development of China-European Union (EU) relations. Li Keqiang pointed out, China and the EU are each other's major cooperative partners, and both are committed to upholding multilateralism and free trade. The Chinese side has always firmly supported the process of European integration. The two sides focus on their broad common interests, strengthen strategic communication and deepen all-round cooperation, which is beneficial to both China and the EU, and the world at large.

Li Keqiang said, as the world's largest developing country, China still has a long way to go to realize modernization. China will actively fulfill the commitments made in the Paris Agreement, make arduous efforts to address climate change, continuously improve the environment in the process of industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization, and work with the international community, including the EU side, to tackle climate change.

Li Keqiang welcomed new EU leaders' visit to China for the 22nd China-EU Summit next year.

Ursula von der Leyen noted, I held phone talks with Mr. Premier on the day of my inauguration, which indicates that the EU side highly values its relations with China. The year 2020 will be a landmark for the development of EU-China relations as it will see a series of significant high-level exchanges between the two sides. I look forward to coming to China next year for the 22nd EU-China Summit. The EU and China share broad common interests on such issues as sustainable development and China-EU investment agreement negotiation. Dealing with climate change is a priority of the new European Commission. The Commission highly appreciates the Chinese side's efforts on the issue and is willing to work with the Chinese side to enhance cooperation in areas including addressing climate change and the reform of the World Trade Organization, in order to push for sustained development of EU-China relations.

Wang Yi and He Lifeng were present.