U.S., China, EU Product Safety Meeting Set in Brussels Monday

U.S., EU and Chinese officials will on Monday hold landmark talks on consumer product safety, following a string of problems involving the burgeoning imports from China. "Every week there are alerts which remind us that we must never allow safety issues to slip from the very top of the political agenda," EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said in a statement. It will be the first such high-level meeting between the three trade powers on the issue of product safety with Kuneva hosting Wei Chuanzhong, vice-minister in China's quality supervision and inspection administration (AQSIQ) and Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Nancy Nord. In September, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao vowed to ensure the "Made in China" brand was safe for consumers at home and abroad, as Beijing scrambled to restore confidence amid a toxic milk scandal. Last year the focus for concern over unsafe Chinese goods focused on the toy sector. Tens of millions of Chinese-made toys were recalled amid concern they could be dangerous, in what became a new flashpoint in trade relations between the Asian economic giant and Europe and the United States. Everything from pet food to pharmaceuticals have also sparked safety fears in the recent past. Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008