Brussels

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.

Budapest - The heads of the EU's European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Tuesday that their institutions are prepared to provide financial backing for the Nabucco gas pipeline project, providing certain conditions are met.

"The EIB is ready to finance projects that further EU objectives of increased sustainability and energy security," said the president of the European Investment Bank Philippe Maystadt during the opening addresses by participants in a "Nabucco summit" in Hungary on Tuesday.

Cairo - European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Tuesday met with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in Cairo for talks on the situation in the Gaza Strip.

The two discussed efforts to consolidate a lasting ceasefire, opening Gaza's borders to facilitate humanitarian aid for Palestinians, and Egypt's efforts to reconcile rival Palestinian factions.

Solana's visit, which started Monday night, was part of a two-day Middle East tour which would also take him to Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Israel.

Brussels  - The cannot rely too heavily on Russia and Ukraine for its energy needs after a row between the two cut off natural gas supplies to the bloc for two weeks, EU foreign ministers agreed Monday.

Instead, they said, the EU must find energy elsewhere.

"It's too early to draw conclusions from (the gas conflict), but we can see that neither Russia nor Ukraine comes out of it looking good ... In the end it was Russia that turned the gas supplies off, not Ukraine," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said after talks with EU counterparts in Brussels.

Brussels - The European Commission announced Monday that it was providing 58 million euros (74.3 million dollars) in humanitarian aid to vulnerable Palestinians this year, as EU foreign ministers met to discuss ways of helping Israel counter arms smuggling destined for Hamas into the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, EU Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said around 32 million euros would be earmarked for Gaza, which suffered massive damage during a three-week bombing campaign by Israel.