China looks for closer cooperation with Britain to eliminate unstable factors in the global economy, Finance Minister Jin Renqing told visiting British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in Beijing Monday.

"The global economy faces many challenges although it is experiencing pretty good growth momentum. China and Britain should enhance cooperation to meet the challenges," Jin said in a meeting with Brown, who started his three-day visit to China yesterday.

The two nations should also work together to help optimize existing international cooperative mechanisms, Jin said.

China is this year's president of the G20, a group of the world's major industrial and emerging market economies. The country will also host the finance ministers' meeting of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

Great Britain is a member of both the G20 and ASEM, as well as this year's chair of the Group of seven most developed nations. Jin was invited to the G7 finance ministers' meeting earlier this month.

"We hope to enhance cooperation with Britain in the framework of the G20 and have more intensive consultation on subjects such as the building of a just, fair management framework for the global economy and allowing developing countries to have a greater say in international financial issues," Jin said.

The G20 ministerial meeting will be held in Beijing from October 15 to 17.

At the meeting, the two countries will submit a joint policy paper that will analyze global economic challenges, identify areas where countries can learn from each other and highlight ways of improving the flexibility of economies as they respond to global economic changes, according to a joint statement.

Jin and Brown also discussed the role for international financial organizations.

"As G20 and G7 presidents we are committed to reexamining the strategic role of the IMF and World Bank, in particular the importance of a more independent role for the IMF in the vital task of the surveillance of the world economy," the joint statement said.

Jin and Brown agreed that the two nations shared many views on realizing the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which mainly focus on poverty alleviation.

Jin and Brown also agreed that there are promising prospects for Sino-British trade and economic cooperation.

Bilateral trade was robust last year. China's exports to Britain jumped 38 percent to US$15 billion, while the United Kingdom's exports to China grew 33 percent to US$4.8 billion.

Brown is on his first visit to China since he assumed the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1997. After Beijing, he is also scheduled to visit Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

The Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. is reportedly in talks with Britain's MG Rover over a possible joint venture.

(China Daily February 22, 2005)