China and the European Union will continue to accelerate the pace of negotiations for the bilateral Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, and reach the goal of concluding the talks this year, the Ministry of Commerce said.

For the next step, both sides will negotiate on remaining textual and market access issues, said Gao Feng, the ministry's spokesman.

Sealing the deal at an early date will benefit companies and investors on both sides, he said.

The official said teams from both sides conducted two rounds of talks in June and July.

The two sides made significant progress on textual issues regarding fair competition rules during the 31st round of bilateral negotiations from July 21 to 24.

This fully reflects the broad consensus of China and the EU on creating a level playing field for companies and protecting the equal status, legitimate rights and interests of foreign-funded enterprises in accordance with the law, said Gao.