Both sides urged to firmly oppose protectionism

Economic and trade cooperation between China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC), based on openness and fair consultation, has achieved large progress over the past six years, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said over the weekend.Trade volume between China and the CEEC rose to nearly $70 billion from $40 billion during the past six years, with an average annual growth rate of 6.5 percent, which now accounts for 11 percent of the total trade volume between China and Europe, up from 9.3 percent, the Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Li.Li made the remarks at the opening ceremonies of the seventh leaders’ meeting of China and the CEEC and the 16+1 Business Forum held in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia on Saturday.

Investment between China and the CEEC has also been growing steadily. China’s accumulated investment has reached $10 billion while the CEEC have invested over $1.4 billion in the Chinese market, it said.

"The outcomes of cooperation between China and the CEEC achieved in the previous six years have exceeded expectations," Li was quoted as saying.

There is a large cooperation scope between China and the CEEC for the future thanks to their similar development levels and to rising demands from both sides, Chen Fengying, an expert at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Sunday.China will enhance cooperation with the CEEC in sectors such as infrastructure, agriculture and tourism in the future, she said.

"The two sides will seek further ties along the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative routes - and in the infrastructure sector in particular," Chen said, adding that China’s economic and trade growth with the CEEC will also advance the country’s economic and trade development with Europe.

Infrastructure interconnectivity between the two sides has advanced in an orderly fashion, and there have been nearly 9,000 China-Europe freight train services, Li noted.

The number of Chinese tourists traveling to the CEEC has grown more than fivefold and the number of Chinese students studying in the CEEC, and vice versa, has risen to 10,000 collectively, Xinhua said.

Tourists from China and the CEEC make more than one million trips to each side every year, said the report.

Li also said that China and the CEEC are beneficiaries and supporters of the current global economic and trade order and should firmly oppose protectionism and unilateralism in any form.

Both sides should resolutely defend the global multilateral trading system and comply with basic rules of free trade, Li said.

Financial cooperation should be strengthened to expand more investment and financing channels for cooperation between China and the CEEC in a bid to solve financing difficulties, according to Li.