BRUSSELS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Top euro zone officials will urge China this month to move towards a more flexible exchange rate policy but it will not be easy to introduce change soon, EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said on Thursday.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, and Almunia will travel to China at the end of November for talks on exchange rates.
"We will stress to the Chinese authorities the need to introduce a more flexible management of exchange rates," Almunia told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Brussels.
"We know it is not easy to change, in a short period of time, the way the yuan is managed," he said. "We agree with the Chinese authorities about the direction of changes needed.
"China will be a key part of the solution to our economic problems, to the reduction of global imbalances," he said. (Reporting by Marcin Grajewski, writing by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Dale Hudson)