Brussels  - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao began a round of "frank and relaxed" talks with European Union officials in Brussels on Friday, two months after he pulled out of a summit with the EU in protest at Europe's stance on Tibet.

"The meeting went very well, it was a very frank and relaxed meeting. I think that the fact that (Wen) came to Brussels is a very good sign of the desire to deepen the relationship between China and the EU," EU foreign policy supremo Javier Solana said.

EU-China relations hit a sudden chill in late November when Wen pulled out of a planned summit to protest a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy - then holder of the EU's rotating presidency - and exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

But both sides appear eager for reconciliation, with Wen's current tour of European capitals seen as a sign of a desire to restore the relationship, and European leaders keen to put the row behind them.

The visit is "a sign of how much we both value the strategic relationship between China and the EU," Solana said.

The two sides must cooperate on issues such as the economic crisis, climate change and energy "if they are to be tackled properly," he said.

However, the key question of Tibet did not come up in Solana's half-hour meeting with Wen.

"I am sure it will be spoken in other meetings," Solana said.

Later on Friday, Wen is set to sign a number of cooperation agreements with the EU's executive, the European Commission, on issues ranging from student exchanges to civil aviation, and to hold talks with commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso. (dpa)