China's sovereign wealth fund launched a mutual fund with a national investment company from Belgium to help Chinese companies boost investments in the country as well as in the European Union.

China Investment Corporation and Belgium's Federal Holding and Investment Company signed an agreement in Brussels on Wednesday launching the China-Belgium Mirror Fund. Belgium will become a very important platform for Chinese companies to expand in all 27 member countries of the EU, said Vice-Premier Li Keqiang.

The amount of China's direct investment in Belgium was $45.33 million in 2010, reaching $101 million in total direct investment stock, 77.5 percent higher than at the end of 2009, a report from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

It is the first mirror fund that China set up in the eurozone, which is seen as a landmark for the relationship in terms of financial cooperation between the two large economies, said Wang Tianlong, an economist with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a government think tank.

The European Union's open markets are ready for investment from China, as they are now the top destination for China's outbound direct investment, Davide Cucino, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.

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