President of the European Council António Costa met Chinese Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, where they discussed bilateral relations between the European Union and China, as well as a range of multilateral and global issues.

In a statement following the meeting, President Costa underlined the importance that the EU attaches to constructive and stable relations with China, as well as the Council's willingness to enhance cooperation to address global challenges.

“I underlined that climate action has to remain top of our agendas. The upcoming COP30 on climate change in Brazil will offer an opportunity for the EU and China to lead with ambition in order to achieve a successful outcome,” he noted.

President Costa stressed the need to make concrete progress as a follow up to the EU-China Summit, more particularly to rebalance the trade and economic relationship between the two sides.