Brussels  - Money, rather than human rights, will be the focus of Friday's visit to the European Commission in Brussels by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

Senior commission officials say the three main topics on the meeting's agenda will be bilateral relations, the troubled global economy and ways to combat climate change.

The two sides will also sign nine agreements worth nearly 60 million euros (78 million dollars) covering a variety of issues ranging from the EU's Erasmus Mundus student exchange programme to civil aviation.

"The idea is to confirm and strengthen our strategic partnership with China, which is developing in many fields," a Brussels official said.

This will be the first such high-level meeting between China and the European Commission since April 2008, when Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and nine commissioners paid a visit to Beijing in what was the EU executive's largest delegation to ever visit a third country.

It also comes two months after China suddenly cancelled a planned December 1 summit with representatives from EU member states in protest at a meeting between some European leaders and exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama. EU officials hope that a new date for the summit will be set during Friday's talks.

Commission officials on Tuesday rejected claims that the meeting would sidestep China's human rights violations and its violent crackdowns on Tibetan demonstrators in March 2008.

"The issue of human rights and the situation in Tibet is raised regularly and systematically in our political dialogue with Chinese officials," said Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, a commission spokesman.

Much of the discussions will be devoted to helping China make consumer products safer and crack down on the export of drug precursors used for manufacturing counterfeit medicines.

More than 34 million counterfeit Viagra and other pills made in China, India and Pakistan were seized by EU customs officials during the last two months of 2008.

Increased cooperation between China's ministries and the commission's corresponding directorate general is also planned.

On the global economic front, officials say the commission will remind China of the need to "maintain open markets" and not to fall into the protectionist trap by raising import duties or export subsidies.

The sides will also discuss the implementation of their respective stimulus packages. China is to inject 4 trillion yuan (580 billion dollars) into its economy while EU nations are working on a stimulus package worth a combined 200 billion euros (264 billion dollars) in extra public spending.

Officials in Brussels will also reiterate their call for appreciation of the yuan in light of the country's 300-billion-dollar trade surplus.

The commission will also invite Wen to help forge a workable successor to the Kyoto protocol at global climate change talks due to be held in Copenhagen at the end of this year.

"China is now the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, so we need them on board," an official said.

China is the EU's largest single source of imported goods and its second most significant trading partner.

Barroso, five commissioners and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, on behalf of the EU's rotating presidency, are to meet Wen in Brussels.

During his European tour, Wen is due to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and pay visits to Berlin, Madrid and London. (dpa)