China's investment in European Union countries has seen explosive growth in the past few years, a senior business official said.

"China's non-financial direct investment in the European Union reached $9.1 billion from January to October, which is triple that of the same period last year," said Xu Zhengbing, chief of the Commerce Ministry's European Union division of the Department of European Affairs.

China and the EU are accelerating the implementation of the EU-China 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation signed last year, especially in the services and cultural trade sectors, Xu said.

China-Europe bilateral trade reached $507.7 billion in the first 10 months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 11 percent. The growth is also higher than that of China and other countries.

In the services sector, bilateral trade volume reached 53 billion euros in 2013 and, from 2009 to 2013, the annual growth on average reached 14 percent.

Technology cooperation is an important part of the services sector. By the end of September, China had recorded technology collaboration projects worth $178.9 billion. From January to September of this year, China brought in 2,015 technologies, with the contract value hitting $6.3 billion.

"Europe has also been China's biggest source for bringing in technologies. ... We hope the EU will transfer more technologies, especially technologies that help improve lives in China," Xu said.

Xu was speaking at the Sino-European Cultural Trade Forum in Beijing on Dec 12, a sub-forum of the 9th Beijing International Cultural & Creative Industry Expo.

There is also huge potential for cultural collaboration, Xu said. In the first half of this year, China's export of core cultural products to European Union countries, including visual artwork and printed works, hit $1.86 billion, second only to the United States.

The Chinese government is now making preferential policies and setting up platforms to help promote Chinese culture overseas, and to help companies in the cultural industry expand in the overseas market, Xu said.

Chinese cultural companies should actively go overseas and be more involved in the European market through cooperation and joint ventures with local partners, especially in the film, animation, music and new media fields, he said.

They should take in more high-quality work, talent and industry experience from the EU to help improve their international competitiveness, Xu said.

Chinese regulators should also actively participate in the making of regulations in the international cultural market, Xu said. He also hoped that the EU will share with China its experience in forming cultural policies and developing cultural trade.

The country shares with Europe similar views in keeping cultural diversity and many other issues and both sides can enhance cooperation in related global trade negotiations or regulation implementation, Xu said.

chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn