BEIJING - Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said Tuesday that trade between China and the European Union (EU) is balanced and healthy.

Chen told a news briefing at the third High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue (HED) that the China-EU economic and trade relationship had recovered to the level prior to the international financial crisis in 2008.

Chen said the China-EU trade volume had increased by more than $40 billion and China's trade surplus with the EU had fallen by more than $10 billion in the first 10 months of this year. He did not give the exact figures for the previous year.

The EU remained China's largest trade partner, with EU-China trade increasing 33.1 percent year-on-year in the first 11 months to $433.9 billion.

At the HED, the EU had agreed to establish a working group on high-tech trade, said Chen, and he hoped these problems would be addressed over time.

source:Xinhua