The European Union hopes the United States and China will act according to pledges to address global foreign exchange rates, the EU's Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said on Monday.

We are taking good note of recent statements by (U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy) Geithner, saying that the U.S. administration supports a strong dollar, Almunia told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Vienna. EUR=

And (also) of the Chinese authorities' statement ... that they will reconsider the present rate of the yuan versus the dollar. These are good statements that I hope will be followed by consequences. EURCNY=CFXS CNY=CFXS.

The EU wants exchange rate discussions to be part of a global framework for rebalancing the world economy, which would address a range of problems from insufficient savings in the United States to huge trade surpluses in China.

Almunia said it would be the best system for all of us if China's and other emerging countries' currencies were decided by the market with less public intervention.

Almunia, as well as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and euro zone finance ministers' chairman Jean-Claude Juncker plan to visit China at the end of November to talk about exchange rates.

Almunia's remarks are in line with the latest statement from the Group of Seven industrialised countries which urged China at the start of October to allow renewed appreciation of its yuan currency -- in effect re-pegged to the dollar since mid-2008 to help Chinese exporters.

Euro zone exporters have said the weakness of the dollar was also a problem for them as they were less competitive globally as a result, [ID:nL9404398] and Juncker warned in mid-October that the euro's further gains could hurt euro zone economic recovery.

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