China and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries will conduct more trade and commercial cooperation, driven by the equipment manufacturing industry and infrastructure construction, an official with the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Wednesday.
Bilateral trade between China and CEE countries has seen stable growth, Zhou Xiaoyan, head of the Department of European Affairs of the MOFCOM, told a briefing in Beijing.
China's trade with all 16 CEE countries reached $56.2 billion in 2015, up 28 percent from 2010, she noted.
Mutual investment has also expanded. Chinese companies' cumulative investment into the CEE countries has exceeded $5 billion, covering finance, new energy, telecommunication and other industries, according to the MOFCOM.
Major infrastructure construction and connection projects between China and CEE countries have made breakthroughs. For example, the Serbian Belgrade bridge across the Danube River was completed in December 2014, said domestic news portal chinanews.com.
River cleaning and flood control projects in Wrocław, the largest city in western Poland, and two highway construction projects in Macedonia are moving ahead steadily, Zhou said.
China and CEE countries have huge scope for development in sectors including trade, investment and infrastructure construction, Zhou said, noting that China's investment into CEE countries accounts for only 2 percent of that into the EU market.
The 2nd China-CEE Countries Ministerial Meeting on Promoting Trade and Economic Cooperation will be held on June 8 in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province.
Bilateral trade and commercial cooperation issues will be discussed, such as boosting cooperation in production capacity and equipment manufacturing as well as nurturing new growth momentum, Zhou said.
