China has announced that the next China-CEE countries' meeting on promoting cooperation will be held in early June. China's Commerce Minister and his counterparts from 16 Central and Eastern European countries will take part in the event.
China's Ministry of Commerce has announced that the second China-CEE countries' Ministerial Meeting on Promoting Trade and Economic Cooperation will be held on June 8th and 9th, in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.
The meeting will focus on broadening and deepening economic and trade cooperation between China and those countries. Delegates will also discuss cooperation in infrastructure, production abilities and equipment manufacturing. The "Ningbo Declaration" will also be released.
"The Ningbo Declaration will facilitate a link between Belt and Road Initiative and the development plans of CEE countries. It will show the confidence and the measures that the ministers will take to promote the cooperation between China and CEE Countries," ZHou Xiaoyan, director of Department of European Affairs, MOFCOM, said.
The cooperation agreement, also known as the 16+1 mechanism, between China and CEE countries was launched in 2012. It aims to deepen friendship, strengthen cooperation, and promote China-Europe ties.
Since the mechanism was launched in Warsaw in 2012, there have been four leaders' meetings and one ministerial meeting. The engagements have helped develop economic and trade ties between the parties. Trade volume between the two sides has increased nearly by 30 percent in the past five years. So far, China has invested more than five-billion US dollars in the CEE countries. And CEE countries' investment in China has reached more than one billion.
"With support from the leaders of the countries, the economic and trade cooperation of the two sides is on a fast-track. CEE countries are a very economically vibrant area, with the greatest potential. There is a big space for the two sides to cooperate in the fields of trade, investment and infrastructure construction," Zhou said.
The Ministry of Commerce says Beijing intends to work with other countries to continue broadening ties, explore potential and realize cooperation that will benefit all.
