BEIJING: Fruitful results from the third China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Expo & International Consumer Goods Fair, concluded on Saturday in east China’s Zhejiang Province, reveal bright prospects for further cooperation across sectors.
Data from the expo’s organizer showed that the five-day event saw over 10.5 billion yuan (about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars) of intent purchase orders signed for imports from the CEECs. Around 81 percent of exhibitors from these countries have confirmed their attendance at the next expo.
Also inked at the event are 62 foreign-funded projects with a total investment of 17.78 billion U.S. dollars. Seventeen projects involve “Fortune 500” companies and industry leaders, covering high-end equipment manufacturing, biomedicine, and the digital economy.
Officials and analysts say China’s economic and trade ties with the CEECs are achieving win-win outcomes, buoyed by a mutual enthusiasm for cooperation.
China’s trade with the CEECs has grown at an average annual rate of 8.1 percent since 2012, official data showed. Two-way trade reached 33.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier in a steady and positive start.
“China has become a key trading partner and source of imports for the CEECs since the China-CEEC cooperation mechanism launched in 2012,” said Yu Yuantang, an official with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).
He pointed out that goods traded between China and the CEECs mostly have high added value, such as mechanical and electrical products.
Large joint projects between the two sides are also in full swing.
Opened in March 2022, the Belgrade to Novi Sad (Beno) section of the Chinese-built Hungary-Serbia railway handled over 2.93 million passenger trips in its inaugural year. Cooperation between China’s COSCO Shipping and Greece’s largest port Piraeus since 2010 was dubbed by locals an exemplary case of win-win cooperation.
With the Chinese investment, new jobs were created, giving a massive boost, especially to the port’s surrounding area, said Antonis Apergis, the superintendent of the engineering department of COSCO subsidiary Piraeus Container Terminal S.A. –Agencies
