Meeting in Tangshan ends with contracts signed

A two-day meeting attended by local leaders from China and Central and Eastern European countries closed with contracts signed on Friday in Tangshan, North China's Hebei province.

Host province Hebei signed 16 contracts with some regions of the CEE countries and established friendly relations with five counterparts.

"Hebei government will always support companies going abroad and carrying out cooperation with CEE countries in areas of competitive industries and capacities," Zhao Kezhi, the province's Party chief, said during the meeting.

As one of the competitive industries in Hebei, the iron and steel sector has joined hands with CEE countries, such as a recent acquisition of the Smederevo steel mill in Serbia by Hebei-based Hesteel Group Co Ltd.

The transaction is to be completed by the end of this month.

In 2009, China and Serbia established a strategic partnership, the first of its kind between a CEE country and China.

"Our cooperation on major projects is making heartening and sweeping progress, delivering economic and social benefits and a positive impact on the entire Central and Eastern European region," said Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday in a signed article in a Serbian newspaper ahead of his state visit to the country.

"National leaders' interaction can promote mutual friendship, while local leaders' meetings can help bring cooperative agreements into actuality," said Sanja Vasić, a Serbian representative at the meeting who works at the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce in Serbia and led a business delegation of 12 company leaders to the meeting.

They came to learn more about Chinese companies and sought to find partners during the meeting, she said.

Except for Hebei, government officials from 15 Chinese provinces and cities also came to the meeting to explore further cooperation with the countries.

Trade volume between China and the CEE countries reached $56.2 billion last year, up 28 percent from 2010, said Vice-Premier Ma Kai at the meeting's opening ceremony.

To further enhance the cooperation between Chinese cities and their counterparts in 16 CEE countries, this kind of meeting, officially called the China-Central and Eastern European Countries Local Leaders' Meeting, was first held in Chongqing in 2013, and the second in Prague in 2014.

The third meeting attracted more than 400 foreigners, including governors and mayors from the CEE countries and their ambassadors in China, as well as business delegations.

The Chinese government will encourage local regions to cooperate with their counterparts in the CEE countries in such areas as production capacity, trade and transportation, said Premier Li Keqiang in his message to the meeting.