Tao Kaiyuan, vice-president of China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC), met with Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the General Court of the European Union (EU), on March 16.

Tao warmly welcomed the delegation led by Juncker, saying that the Chinese government attaches importance to the status and role of the EU.

In particular the Chinese government is working with the EU and its member states to implement the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation and to build a peaceful, increasing, reformative and civil partnership, according to Tao.

China’s SPC also pays a great deal of attention to Sino-European judicial exchanges. The two sides have maintained communication in intellectual property cooperation and promotion of exchange visits by judges, Tao said.

She also pointed out that China is willing to discuss other forms of cooperation under bilateral or multilateral frameworks with the Court of Justice of the European Union, expand cooperation fields and increase communication in judicial reform and intellectual property.

Juncker expressed his gratitude to Tao and his willingness to strengthen judicial exchanges and cooperation with China for the promotion of a practical Europe-China judicial cooperative relationship.