Chinese vice-premier speaks with IMF chief via video link

Chinese President Xi Jinping's keynote speech at the Summit of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) has charted the course for both sides to achieve common development and mutual benefit at a higher level and injected impetus into the joint efforts to build a community with a shared future for mankind, experts have said.

The summit, held via video link, called on relevant countries to keep up the momentum and work together for a new chapter in China-CEEC cooperation.

The China-CEEC cooperation has become an important part of China-Europe cooperation, said Piotr Gadzinowski, editor-in-chief of the Polish newspaper Trybuna.

"I believe that other member states will work with China to further safeguard multilateralism, promote free trade, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Europe ... as well as build an open world economy," he said.

Gadzinowski added that China has joined hands with the CEECs in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, providing each other with much-needed medical supplies, actively cooperating to resume production, and working together to promote economic recovery, which shows the adherence to the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind.

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping chairs the China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Summit and delivers a keynote speech via video link in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 9, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

Milan Bandic, mayor of Croatia's capital Zagreb, believed that cooperation with China is needed for "all European Union countries," noting it is positive that trade between China and the CEECs is growing.

"More intensive cooperation between Europe and China in the field of science and research should continue, primarily to ensure larger quantities of COVID-19 vaccines," he said, adding that the Chinese experience in the field of ecology and sustainable development "will be valuable to everyone in Europe."

Jelena Begovic, director of the Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering of University of Belgrade, Serbia, said China's initiative to "gather these countries and make a wall, a battlefield to beat this pandemic" is a great idea, adding that "I think it's the only way if we want to win this war."

If the international community can strengthen ties between countries and try to find more countries to involve, Begovic said, "it would be great and we have to come to some mutual solutions on the global level or just start at a regional level."

Andrey Shvedov, editor-in-chief of Latvia's Russian-language newspaper Segodnya, said Xi's remarks that all countries involved, regardless of size, are equal partners in a cooperation mechanism, is especially important to Latvia.