Gathering strong driving forces for China Central and Eastern European cooperation

Economic and trade cooperation is the cornerstone of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries. In recent years, despite the impact of the COVID-19, economic and trade exchanges between China and Central and Eastern European countries have continued to heat up. This year, the third China Central and Eastern European Countries Expo (hereinafter referred to as CEEC Expo) will be held. The reporter learned from a press conference recently held by the State Council of China that the Third Central and Eastern European Expo will be held from May 16th to 20th in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. The theme of this Expo is "Deepening Practical Cooperation and Joining Hands for the Future". During the Expo, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the People's Government of Zhejiang Province will hold the 7th Conference of the China Central and Eastern European Union Chamber of Commerce on May 15th.
Gathering the powerful forces of the business community
Vice Minister of Commerce Li Fei stated that the Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to hosting the Central and Eastern European Expo. The Third Central and Eastern European Countries Expo is the first national level exhibition held in China for the Central and Eastern European region after the smooth transition of epidemic prevention and control. Organizing this expo well is of great significance for deepening economic and trade cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries.
Vice Governor Lu Shan of Zhejiang Province introduced that Hungary will serve as the guest of honor for this expo, while Jiangsu Province will serve as the theme province. As of May 5th, political leaders from 7 Central and Eastern European countries and officials from 13 Central and Eastern European embassies and consulates in China have expressed their intention to attend. More than 20 sister provinces and cities in China will send representatives to participate in the expo. In terms of activities, this expo focuses on economic and trade activities, and also arranges activities in various fields such as technology, tourism, and health. There are a total of 27 important events.
During the Expo, the 7th Conference of the China Central and Eastern European Union Chamber of Commerce will also be held. Zhang Shaogang, Vice President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, stated that in 2014, in accordance with the important consensus reached during the China CEE Leaders' Meeting, the China CEE Joint Chamber of Commerce was officially established. Currently, the Joint Chamber of Commerce has become an important component of China CEE cooperation and an important characteristic platform for promoting economic and trade exchanges between China and CEE countries.
The theme of this Chamber of Commerce will be "seeking cooperation and development, and welcoming a better future together". It will set up four stages, including the opening ceremony, topic discussion, docking and negotiation, and the Chinese Council meeting, to build a high-quality platform for exchanges and cooperation between the business communities of China and Central and Eastern European countries. It is reported that the United Chamber of Commerce will organize precise "one-on-one" negotiation meetings for enterprises, and it is expected to arrange 365 offline and online business meetings.
We hope these talks can more efficiently lead to a batch of new cooperation projects, "Zhang Shaogang said. This is a meeting held by the business communities of China and Central and Eastern European countries in the post pandemic era, which will gather strong joint forces for cross regional cooperation. This meeting is the first time since the outbreak of the epidemic that representatives from the business community of China and Central and Eastern European countries have been extensively invited to attend the meeting offline in China. Currently, more than 150 companies have signed up to attend.
Rapid development of practical cooperation in various fields
The China Central and Eastern European Countries Expo plays an important platform and demonstration role in bilateral economic and trade cooperation, "Cui Zheng, a professor at the China Open Economy Research Institute at Liaoning University, told reporters that China Central and Eastern European countries have continuously innovated and developed cooperation from scratch, and the creation of various platforms and mechanisms has played an important role. Since the establishment of the China Central and Eastern European Countries Cooperation Framework in 2012, practical cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries in various fields has developed rapidly.
Firstly, trade between the two sides continues to grow, and China has become an important trading partner and source of imports for Central and Eastern European countries. Since 2012, China's trade with Central and Eastern European countries has grown at an average annual rate of 8.1%, and China's imports from Central and Eastern European countries have grown at an average annual rate of 9.2%. In the first quarter of this year, the trade volume between the two sides reached 33.3 billion US dollars, an increase of 1.6%, and the overall start was stable and positive. From the perspective of product structure, the proportion of mechanical and electrical products in China's imports and exports to Central and Eastern European countries has reached around 70%, indicating that the added value and technological content of trade products between China and Central and Eastern European countries are relatively high, reflecting the high level and value of trade cooperation between the two sides, "said Yu Yuantang, Director of the European Department of the Ministry of Commerce.
Secondly, investment cooperation is becoming increasingly close. As of now, the scale of two-way investment between China and Central and Eastern European countries has reached nearly 20 billion US dollars. In the first quarter of this year, China's direct investment in the entire industry of Central and Eastern European countries increased significantly by 148% year-on-year, and Chinese enterprises have a strong willingness to invest in the region. The investment field involves automotive components, household appliances, pharmaceuticals, logistics, energy, minerals, etc.
The third is the steady implementation of infrastructure projects. In 2022, Chinese enterprises signed engineering contracting contracts in Central and Eastern European countries totaling 9.36 billion US dollars. In July 2022, the priority section of Montenegro's north-south expressway and the Peleshatz Bridge in Croatia were successively opened to traffic. The construction of the Hungarian Serbian railway was steadily advancing, and infrastructure projects such as transportation and energy were progressing smoothly, becoming a highlight of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries.
The fourth is the rapid development of interconnectivity. The China Europe train has flourished, with 16000 trains operating throughout 2022, a year-on-year increase of 9%. The southbound passage has been successfully opened, providing a new plan for transportation to Europe. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and other countries have become important channels and destinations for the China Europe train. The construction of China EU land sea express line has been actively promoted. The throughput of Port of Piraeus in Greece ranks among the top Mediterranean ports. The port logistics cooperation between China and Poland, Slovenia, Croatia and other countries is increasingly close.
Yu Yuantang said that China and Central and Eastern European countries are important partners in the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road". They are both in an important position in the global industrial chain supply chain, with strong economic complementarity, smooth connectivity and active two-way investment. In the future, the prospects for trade cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries are still very broad. We will fully leverage the potential of China's super large market size and the geographical advantages of the Central and Eastern European region, and focus on expanding cooperation in new fields and formats such as green, low-carbon, digital, and health beyond traditional areas, further promoting the sustainable development of trade between China and Central and Eastern European countries
Cui Zheng stated that in the future, China's economic and trade cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe should adhere to a pragmatic orientation and expand mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation. One is to exert goal orientation. Promote trade balance and achieve China's goal of importing over 170 billion US dollars of goods from Central and Eastern European countries over the next five years, as proposed at the 2021 China CEE Leaders Summit; Deepen agricultural cooperation, double the import volume of agricultural products from Central and Eastern Europe within 5 years, and actively build a wholesale market for agricultural products. The second is to leverage the platform's role. Actively utilizing platforms such as the China International Import Expo and the China Central and Eastern European Countries Expo to expand imports of goods from Central and Eastern European countries, optimizing the assessment process for agricultural products imported from Central and Eastern European countries to China, and accelerating the access process. The third is to strengthen local economic and trade cooperation, and continue to promote the construction of demonstration zones and industrial parks for economic and trade cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries in Ningbo, Cangzhou, and other places.