The foreign ministers' meeting of the European Union (EU) pledged on Monday in Brussels to continue to push forward the work on lifting of the arms embargo against China.

"The (EU) Council reaffirms its willingness to carry forward work towards lifting the arms embargo on the basis of the European Council conclusions of December 2004," said a conclusion document issued by the meeting.

Mary Brazier, a press officer from the EU Council, told Xinhua that the ministers discussed the issue briefly over their lunch, and in the afternoon they discussed the EU-China relations in general as the European Commission (EC) has tabled a policy paper on the relations.

"I'm afraid there is no much progress (on lifting)," Nicolas Kerleroux, a spokesman from the EU Council, told Xinhua.

The EU summit of December 2003 has started to list lifting of arms embargo into the EU's agenda, later on, the EU side has, on several occasions, highlighted its political will on lifting the 17-year-old ban.

Editor: Yan