Top euro zone officials will urge China this month to move towards a more flexible exchange rate policy but it will not be easy to introduce change soon, EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said on Thursday.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, and Almunia will travel to China at the end of November for talks on exchange rates.

We will stress to the Chinese authorities the need to introduce a more flexible management of exchange rates, Almunia told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Brussels.

We know it is not easy to change, in a short period of time, the way the yuan is managed, he said. We agree with the Chinese authorities about the direction of changes needed.

China will be a key part of the solution to our economic problems, to the reduction of global imbalances, he said.

European union European central bank China