Talks aimed at ending the piling up of above-quota Chinese garments in European ports temporarily ended this week with EU delegates leaving China, although EU officials insisted that talks were still continuing.

Serge Abou told journalists that officials were hoping for a solution before the EU-China summit in Beijing next Monday, but it would not affect the forum even if no resolution was reached by then.

"The summit will confirm our will to preserve the integrity of the Shanghai agreement and will make a plea to continue our work," he said.

"The problem will be resolved, that's for certain."

The European Union and China narrowly avoided a trade war by agreeing to a deal in Shanghai in June to curb growth of imports of 10 Chinese textiles and clothing products to between eight and 12.5 per year until the end of 2008.

"I can confirm to you that both parties are fully attached to this Shanghai agreement, no one has the slightest intention to depart from this agreement," he said.

The 8th EU-China summit will be attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

Abou said the textile talks were taking a long time "simply because, technically, the problem is very difficult."

Mandelson said Thursday in Brussels that he hoped to convince EU member states before the weekend to release millions of imported textile products from China held by customs in EU ports.