Chinese premier to attend China-CEE summit

BEIJING - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend a China-Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) leaders' meeting in Romania's Bucharest on Tuesday to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation.

During the summit, Li will attend a "1+16" round table meeting and an economic and trade forum, and deliver speeches and hold separate meetings with leaders from 16 CEE countries.

He will elaborate on China's position in regards to relations with CEE countries and announce important cooperation measures.

Participants will also assess the implementation of the cooperation proposals made in Warsaw during the first China-CEE leaders' meeting in the spring of last year, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta told a press conference last week.

China announced a list of twelve proposals to push forward cooperation between China and CEE countries during the Warsaw summit, and a secretariat prioritizing the list was established in Beijing in September last year.

Since then, the secretariat has promoted practical cooperation on projects in economy, culture, education, tourism and other fields, said  Song Tao, secretary-general of the secretariat.

China has sent more than 30 delegations of trade and investment to CEE countries.

A 10-billion-U.S.-dollar special credit line included in the plan has been launched, and a series of inter-enterprise trade and economic cooperation agreements have been signed under the China-CEE cooperative framework.

In addition, the two sides have successfully held a series of events, including a special tourism products promotion event, a forum on cultural cooperation and the first Education Policy Dialogue between China and CEE countries.

In July, the first local leaders' meeting of China and CEE countries was held in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to expand cooperation between provinces and cities of the two sides.

The China-CEE cooperative mechanism has been improved since the first economic and trade forum was held in 2011, and the upcoming summit will lay a solid foundation for practical cooperation in the future, experts say.

Ruan Zongze, vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, said the meeting, which Li will attend as premier for the first time, will enhance mutual understanding between China and CEE countries.

Ruan said China's new leadership has kept the promise to share development opportunities with CEE countries by implementing signed agreements on cooperative projects.

Cooperation between China and CEE countries "conforms with each side's respective development features and needs for cooperation," Song said, describing such cooperation as reciprocal and win-win.

Trade between China and the 16 CEE countries amounted to 45.4 billion dollars during the first 10 months this year.

Chinese companies' investment in CEE countries has exceeded 3.5 billion dollars, and investment in the opposite direction has topped 1.1 billion dollars.

"The summit is of great significance since it will vastly enrich the content of cooperation between the two sides," said Ruan.