China's "tailor-made" cooperation measures with Central and Eastern European countries

(Economic Observer) China's "tailor-made" cooperation measures with Central and Eastern European countries

　　China News Service, Beijing, February 9 (Reporter Li Xiaoyu) Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed a series of measures to expand mutually beneficial cooperation at the China-CEEC Summit on the 9th.

Analysts here believe that these measures are "tailored" to the actual needs of Central and Eastern European countries and fully embody the principle of mutual benefit and win-win results.

　　China plans to import commodities worth more than US$170 billion from Central and Eastern European countries in the next five years, striving to double China's agricultural imports from Central and Eastern European countries in the next five years, and increase bilateral agricultural trade by 50%.

　　In recent years, trade between China and Central and Eastern European countries has developed rapidly.

According to Chinese statistics, the trade volume between China and 17 Central and Eastern European countries reached US$103.45 billion in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%, which was higher than the growth rate of China's foreign trade and China-Europe trade during the same period.

But at the same time, the problem of trade imbalance has always existed.

In 2019, China’s exports to 17 Central and Eastern European countries reached US$70.6 billion, while imports were only US$24.82 billion.

　　Liu Zuokui, director of the Central and Eastern Europe Research Office of the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the trade deficit is one of the important concerns of many Central and Eastern European countries.

In particular, most of the Central and Eastern European countries are producers of agricultural products, and there is an urgent need for export of agricultural products to China. This concern has even been elevated to one of the core concerns of strengthening cooperation between Central and Eastern European countries and China.

Under this circumstance, China is willing to take practical measures to ease trade imbalances, which will help enhance the sense of gain of Central and Eastern European countries and make mutually beneficial cooperation deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

　　China's proposal to expand imports from Central and Eastern European countries, especially the doubling of imports of agricultural products, is not only necessary but also feasible.

　　"This goal is very pragmatic." Zhai Qian, Director of the European Department of the Ministry of Commerce of China, said in an interview with reporters that the Central and Eastern European countries have comparative advantages in electromechanical products, automobiles and parts, clothing and food products, textile products, and mineral raw materials. The Chinese market is vast and there is a lot of room for expanding imports from Central and Eastern Europe.

　　In addition to traditional fields such as trade, China also mentioned cooperation in emerging fields such as digital economy, e-commerce, health industry, green economy, and clean energy at the summit.

　　China will promote the establishment of a China-CEEC dialogue mechanism for e-commerce cooperation and the China-CEEC Public Health Industry Alliance, and is willing to explore pilot projects for cooperation with the Customs of Central and Eastern European countries on "Smart Customs, Smart Border, and Smart Sharing".

　　These measures also closely meet the actual needs of Central and Eastern European countries.

Wan Zhe, executive director of the Chinese Society of Modern Finance, said that due to the epidemic situation, the development of the digital economy has bucked the trend. Central and Eastern European countries are now generally beginning to increase investment in digital infrastructure and develop e-commerce as an important post-epidemic agenda. The strengthening of cooperation between the economy and e-commerce is in response to this demand and helps to open up new channels for their respective economic development.

　　In addition, the development of a green economy is increasingly being valued by Central and Eastern European countries, and China has made a commitment to the world to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Expanding cooperation in this area is beneficial to both parties.

　　Liu Zuokui also said that there are strong demands for specific cooperation between Central and Eastern European countries and China, especially in the areas of science and technology, energy development, greenfield investment, and innovation cooperation. Central and Eastern European countries have a large demand gap and a strong desire to cooperate with China.

Based on this practical need, China's proposal to strengthen cooperation in related fields with Central and Eastern European countries is a pragmatic manifestation.

　　As Zhu Xiaozhong, a researcher at the Institute of Russian, Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, at a time when the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, how can countries with different levels of economic development, political systems, and social cultures truly achieve economic and trade cooperation? Mutual benefit and win-win situation are issues that require careful study.

This time, China has proposed a series of measures to strengthen cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries, which is a useful exploration for achieving this goal.

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