Premier Li calls for stronger cooperation with Central, Eastern Europe

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday called for further cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries in a meeting with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic.

China and Central and Eastern European countries are complementary in economic cooperation and are facing many opportunities, Li said. He vowed to support Chinese companies investing there and welcomed more products from those countries into the Chinese market.

It is a common will of China and Central and Eastern Europe to strengthen cooperation, which is in need of development, and to promote a more comprehensive and balanced development of China-Europe relations, he said.

Li said the cooperation between the two sides will be a new growth point of China-Europe cooperation, and invited Serbia to play a positive role for this regard.

On bilateral relations with Serbia, Li said the Chinese government attached high importance to strategic ties with a good partner sharing mutual trust and support. China will work with Serbia to strengthen concrete cooperation and benefit the two peoples.

Nikolic said China is a reliable cooperation partner of Serbia. He thanked China for valuable assistance and wanted to learn from China's experience in national development.

He welcomed Chinese companies to participate in Serbia's economic development and called on the two countries to enhance cooperation, so as to promote their bilateral relations as well as the cooperation between China and Central and Eastern Europe.

Nikolic is paying a state visit to China from Sunday to Thursday at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi held talks with Nikolic on Monday afternoon.