BEIJING: China and the European Union will hold their annual summit on November 30 in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, with climate change and the global economy topping the agenda, the EU said Tuesday.

"As the summit will focus on the new China-European Union strategic partnership, climate change and the global financial crisis will certainly be on the agenda," the EU's Beijing-based spokesman William Fingleton told AFP.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who holds the EU's rotating presidency, and China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao are expected to attend the meeting, he said.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman declined to confirm details on the meeting, saying preparations were still under way.

European officials have increasingly become concerned that the rising value of the euro is harming the continent's exports and giving an advantage to global competitors the United States and China.

The chairman of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, said on Monday that finance chiefs from the 16 countries that use the euro will travel to China in the coming weeks seeking to calm currency movements.

European officials fear the currency movements could derail an economic recovery on the continent.

Last year's EU-China summit in the Czech Republic was originally set for December 2008 but Beijing called it off to protest a meeting between the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

France held the European Union presidency at the time.

The summit was eventually held in May of this year.