Photo taken on May 18, 2017 by a drone shows the Haicang port area in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong)

BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Germany and Belgium will enhance diplomatic relations with the two countries, and further benefit Europe and the world.

Li's visit is among the increased high-level exchanges between China and Europe in recent years as the two sides are cementing ever-closer bilateral relations.

China established diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community (EEC), a precursor to the European Union (EU) in 1975, and the two sides have developed robust relations over the 42 years, fostering friendship and mutual trust.

Following are some facts and figures on China-EU trade.

-- The EU is China's biggest trading partner, while China is the EU's second biggest, following a dramatic increase in trade in recent years that come along with wealth, jobs, development and innovation for both sides.

-- In 2016, China-EU trade amounted to 547 billion U.S. dollars. EU invested 8.8 billion dollars in China in 2016, a 35.1% increase from 2015; while China's non-financial direct investment in EU stood at 7.29 billion U.S. dollars, 1 percent increase from 2015.

-- A Center for European Policy Studies study estimates that a bilateral free trade agreement with China could add 83 billion euros (88.3 billion dollars) to the EU's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030 and support more than 2.5 million jobs.

-- As of March 2017, China's cumulative direct investment in the EU amounted to 73.3 billion dollars, and the EU's cumulative investment in China reached 114.6 billion dollars.

-- In 2016, China and EU have signed more than 50 business agreements with a value of over 11 billion U.S. dollars, covering extensive areas of finance, environmental protection, machine manufacturing, aviation, new energy, chemical industry, and infrastructure and cross-border e-commerce.