HELPFUL COMPLEMENT
The Riga summit was held within the context of a sluggish world economic recovery, weak trade growth and new and complicated evolution of global and regional hotspot issues.
As Europe struggles to cope with its sluggish growth, subdued inflation and double-digit unemployment in the aftermath of a far-reaching sovereign debt crisis, the uncertainties brought by Brexit and an ongoing unprecedented refugee crisis are doomed to add renewed pressure.
China-CEE cooperation is "an integral part of and a helpful complement to" China-Europe cooperation, said Premier Li on Saturday.
China-CEE cooperation not only serves peace and stability of the CEE region but also contributes to balanced development of Europe as a whole, he said.
The priority of the current development of Europe is to curb uncertainties brought about by Brexit and other intriguing issues and enlarge positive aspects, said Cui Hongjian, director of the Department for European Studies of the China Institute of International Studies.
The summit sent to the world a positive message of promoting world peace and stability, enhancing trade liberalization and investment facilitation, and advancing the globalization process, Li said when addressing the summit.
It is conducive to upholding the world trading system and promoting balanced and inclusive development of the world economy, he said.
Stressing that China's development requires a peaceful and stable international environment, Li said China has all along been a firm supporter of the European integration process and welcomes a prosperous and stable Europe.
Among the 16 CEE countries, 11 are EU members, which altogether accounts for the 30 percent of the whole area of the EU and 40 percent of the total EU population.
As most of the CEE countries are seeking foreign investment to upgrade local infrastructure, China and these countries are highly complementary to one another.
When conducting the 16+1 cooperation, China has always adhered to the principles of openness and transparency, maintained close communication with the EU and welcome third-party cooperation in the CEE region with the EU, experts said.
Pragmatic cooperation between China and CEE countries has provided a new model for the development of a multi-polarized world, said Cui, adding economic growth and improvement of people's livelihood in CEE countries will help solve the unbalanced development problem in Europe and will also add to the EU stability.
"A stable and prosperous Europe will play a bigger role in a multi-polarized world," he said.
BILATERAL RELATIONS
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Latvia. And this is the first time for a Chinese premier to visit the country since it gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991.
Li held talks with his Latvian counterpart, Maris Kucinskis, during the official visit, in which the two prime ministers pledged to jointly promote practical cooperation in all spheres for mutual benefits, and witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents in trade, transportation and culture.
During the visit, Li also met with Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis and Parliament Speaker Inara Murniece respectively.
On the sidelines of the summit, Li met separately with leaders from 12 CEE countries -- Slovenia, Albania, Macedonia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Serbia, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic -- and Belarus as an observer of the China-CEE cooperation mechanism.
Li called for further cooperation in the alignment of their development strategies, infrastructure construction, agriculture and energy.
Li is currently on an eight-day tour of four Eurasian nations which also includes Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia.
