The European Union's trade chief assured China Thursday that its investments in Europe were safe, particularly the bonds it had bought from debt-laden Greece and Spain.

Bonds from Spain and Greece were a good investment for China and would keep their value, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said.

He estimated that China had spent around 420 million euros (US$539.7 million) buying Spanish and Greek bonds, but could not confirm it.

"There is no risk at all to the Chinese treasury," he said in a speech at the Shanghai World Expo.

"China's presence in Europe is visible across the board whether in China's recent purchase of several hundreds of millions of euros of government bonds in the eurozone, particularly Spain or Greece, or in other large-scale investments too, such as the acquisition of Volvo by the car maker Geely," De Gucht said.

He was confident Europe's salvage package of 860 billion euros had been very effective in easing the sovereign debt crisis.

Chinese leaders have expressed concern over Europe's bid to contain debt, which poses a risk to global economic growth.

China has revised its offer to join the World Trade Organization's government procurement agreement. Members of the sub-group, mostly wealthy developed countries, pledge to give each other reciprocal access to government tenders and purchases.

De Gucht said the opening up of the public procurement market would help resolve the Doha round of trade negotiations if a substantial package was reached.

Separately, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said China was abiding by its commitments to the global trade body and its latest offer to join the GPA was better than previous proposals. He also said China will be the No. 1 victim if the world trade environment worsens.

"The WTO will commit itself to reducing trade disputes and fighting against protectionism," he said in Shanghai.

Lamy also expected the global trade to expand 10 percent this year to cover the loss in 2009.