Chinese Premier Li Keqiang keynoted the 7th meeting of heads of government of China and the 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) held recently in Bulgaria. The meeting centered around the theme "Deepening Open and Pragmatic Cooperation for Inclusive Prosperity."
Leaders of these nations gathered in Sofia to discuss the future of the cross-regional cooperation framework. Li put forward proposals to forge a blueprint for 16+1 cooperation and called for deepening open and pragmatic cooperation between China and the CEEC to promote common prosperity and development.
"As long as we insist on pursuing open cooperation, mutual benefit, and a win-win result, while staying down-to-earth with firm confidence, the 16+1 cooperation will surely be promoted steadily and it will add greater contributions to the development of China-European Union (EU) ties and the world's openness and prosperity," said Li.
CEEC includes the former Warsaw Pact countries; the independent states in former Yugoslavia and the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Li proposed China and the CEEC jointly safeguard economic globalization and free trade; maintain a rules-based multilateral trading system; oppose unilateralism and protectionism and vigorously promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.
He suggested more CEE countries participate in building industrial parks according to their own needs and foster fresh force for innovation cooperation. He also wanted financial cooperation to be enhanced to open-up more investment and financing channels for 16+1 and help solve financing difficulties. Li invited CEEC financial institutions to launch branch offices in China so they can do business.
He also called for upgrading local cooperation and stepping up cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two sides. CEEC leaders fully acknowledged the fruitful achievements of the 16+1 cooperation and spoke positively of the cooperation initiatives proposed by Li.
The outcomes of 16+1 cooperation achieved in the past six years are consequential, with trade volume between China and the CEEC growing to almost $70 from $40 billion.
China's accumulated investment has reached nearly 10 billion dollars while the CEEC has invested more than 1.4 billion dollars in China.
On Saturday, China and CEEC jointly issued a guideline for their cooperation, and the leaders witnessed the signing of more than 20 cooperation documents. Li and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov also unveiled the China-CEEC agricultural demonstration zone.
