Economic cooperation between China, CEE on fast track

Echoing Xu's remarks, Zhang Monan, an analyst of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, also thought China and CEE countries were complementary to each other. "CEE countries, mostly emerging economies with enormous untapped potential, are thirsty for technologies in high-end equipment manufacturing that China hopes to export."

Premier Li also attended a meeting between the heads of government of China and 16 CEE countries, also known as the "16+1" summit, established in Poland about four years ago. Thanks to the summit, China-CEE cooperation has seen constant expansion.

Despite a flagging global economy, China and CEE have maintained robust growth in bilateral trade, which totaled $43 billion in the first nine months, up 4 percent year on year. Two-way investment stood at $7 billion, with Chinese investment in CEE soaring nearly 90 percent.

To further boost trade and strengthen economic ties, the two sides are striving to improve transport networks, including Serbia's E763 highway project and the overhaul of the Budapest-Belgrade railway, as well as other infrastructure schemes, such as a thermal power plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Xu believes the infrastructure improvement will not only bolster CEE's economic ties with China but help solve trade impediments inside the region, as well as to propel the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

The initiative aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes, with CEE countries as a critical link.

The infrastructure construction will generate huge financing demand and create fresh room for financial cooperation, Zhang said.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's biggest lender, announced Sunday plans to initiate a Sino-CEE fund via a newly-established subsidiary to provide financial support for industrial cooperation between China and CEE countries.

The fund will focus on investment cooperation in infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing and mass consumption industries, said Jiang Jianqing, head of the Sino-CEEF Holding Company and ICBC's former chairman, adding that the size of the fund is expected to reach 10 billion euros (around $11 billion).