The European and Chinese sides have confirmed they will launch their first round of investment treaty negotiations early next year.

"It will be launched by about January or February, but we are still waiting to finalize the specific dates," a Chinese diplomat based in Brussels told China Daily on Wednesday.

On Tuesday at the China-EU Forum in Brussels, Joao Aguiar Machado, deputy director general at the European Commission Directorate General for Trade, confirmed that the two sides had succeeded in drafting a timetable for the first round of the long-awaited talks.