China boosts trade with CEE

China aims to double its trade with Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries over the next five years, as the two sides pledged to expand cooperation on investment and infrastructure, including the proposed construction of an international railway.[Special coverage]

The package of agreements was reached at a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and leaders from 16 CEE countries in the Romanian capital of Bucharest on Tuesday.

Trade between China and CEE countries has witnessed remarkable growth. It stood at just $4.3 billion in 2001 and reached $52.9 billion in 2011.

Addressing the meeting, Li laid out the vision of doubling trade between the two sides over the next five years.

In order to reach the goal, the two sides agreed on a cooperation guideline to designate 2014 as the year for boosting China-CEE trade and investment ties, with a series of events to be held during the year.

"China eyes cooperation in infrastructure, communications and high-speed railway projects, which will lead to massive investment and a rise in commercial exchanges," the premier said.

"We are prepared to discuss ways to finance these projects, within the lines traced by European Union regulations," Li stressed.

The premier said both sides will seek to expand the two-way investment of enterprises, create more job opportunities and provide market access for each other.

China's investment in the CEE region was almost non-existent in the early 2000s, but it reached $800 million in 2012, according to the Warsaw-based Central and Eastern European Development Institute, AFP reported.

China used to put more focus on its cooperation with Western European nations and its ties with CEE countries were not very strong, Zhang Shengjun, a professor of international politics at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times.

Now CEE countries tend to be increasingly important both geopolitically and economically so China will engage in deeper cooperation, he said.

Heralding future bilateral cooperation, the two sides will talk about plans to build a new international railway transport artery linking China and CEE countries, and will encourage the establishment of bonded areas and distribution centers along the railroads.

As part of the initiative, Li and his Hungarian and Serb counterparts, Viktor Orban and Ivica Dacic, reached an agreement on Monday to jointly build a railway linking Belgrade and Budapest and working groups will be set up promptly to advance the program.

China has the world's second-largest railway network, with the longest mileage of high-speed railway, Li noted when announcing the railway project. "This will be a landmark project," Li said.

In the meantime, China and CEE countries will deepen cooperation in highway, port and airport construction, and support the establishment of a business federation to facilitate institutions and enterprises from both sides in joining infrastructure construction collaboration, according to the guideline.

On financial cooperation, Li said he hoped $10.5 billion in credit lines committed by China last year would be put to use.

Li started a visit to Romania on Monday. The two countries signed 13 cooperation agreements on nuclear, renewable and conventional energy, and on agriculture.

It is Li's first trip abroad after the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee and his first visit to the CEE region since he took office in March.

"It's good timing for China and CEE countries to work together and step into a new stage of bilateral cooperation and development, as China's reform will have influence on the world economy and CEE countries will also attach great importance to it," Zhang said.

"Pragmatic cooperation between the CEE region and China is beneficial not only to the two sides but also to the consolidation of balanced development in Europe as a whole," Li stressed.

"CEE countries are potential members of the EU and closer ties between the two sides will serve to be complementary to China's cooperation with the EU," Feng Zhongping, director of the Institute of European Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

China will put 16 CEE countries on the list of 72-hour transit visa exemptions for foreign nationals at airports like Beijing and Shanghai, compared to the previous list where 10 CEE countries were listed.