Li kicks off trip to UK, Greece with trade high on agenda

Li is scheduled to meet British Prime Minister David Cameron as well as Queen Elizabeth II.

The two sides will discuss cooperation in various fields, including nuclear power, high-speed rail, finance and high technology, Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao said Thursday.

Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, said that over 200 Chinese business leaders will join Li's delegation and over 40 business deals, worth at least $30 billion, will be inked.

Bilateral trade between China and the UK reached a record $70 billion in 2013.

Bilateral trade in the first five months of 2014 increased 22.2 percent year-on-year, which is much higher than the average growth rate of Sino-EU trade, which stood at 11.7 percent in the same period.

Cameron visited China in December 2013, which was viewed as an ice-breaking trip after his meeting with the Dalai Lama in 2012.

"Sino-UK economic ties have great potential and many areas have not yet been developed enough," Zhao Junjie, a research fellow at the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Li's trip is also a diplomatic strategy to balance relationships in the EU following Xi's visit to France and Germany earlier this year," Zhao added.

Li will also visit Greece and the two countries will sign a variety of agreements covering fields such as infrastructure construction, culture exchanges and maritime resources.

"Greece is one of China's best friends in Europe and in the European Union, and has always shown support, understanding and compassion on matters concerning China's core interests," Du Qiwen, the former Chinese ambassador to Greece, was quoted by the Xinhua News Agency as saying.