Ningbo, Zhejiang province, host city for the China-Central and Eastern
European Countries (CEEC) Expo, has not only facilitated cooperation in trade
but also expanded it to more areas. The third China-CEEC Expo kicked off in Ningbo on Tuesday, revolving around
the theme "Practical cooperation for a shared future". The event includes 27
activities and has attracted nearly 3,000 exhibitors, more than 10,000 buyers
and some 100,000 visitors. Over 10 billion-yuan ($1.43 billion) purchase orders
for CEEC products are expected to be made during the event. Hungary is the guest of honor country of this year's expo. A delegation led
by Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's minister of foreign affairs and trade, attended
the opening ceremony on Tuesday. Szijjarto stressed that the example of Hungary proves that there is much to
be gained from fair and constructive cooperation with China. Janos Hajdu, general manager of a beef processing factory in Hungary is
leading a three-person team to the expo. Although it's the first time the
business has attended, its beef products have already reached the Ningbo
market. In July, Ningbo launched a chartered business flight to Europe. Sun
Chonglong, executive director of Ningbo Lianbang Changyun International Trade
Co, took the flight to Hungary and placed a $200 million order for beef at the
factory. Around 30 containers of beef are shipped monthly from Hungary to Ningbo. Some
of the beef is transported to wholesalers and processing plants, while some is
sold through an online shopping platform launched by the Ningbo municipal bureau
of commerce. It has become a best-seller on the platform. In recent years, Ningbo has been building itself into the first choice for
CEEC to export goods to Chinese markets. The city has coordinated departments,
including commerce, port, and customs, to help traders in those countries solve
problems and facilitate trade. Last year, Ningbo's imports from Central and Eastern Europe reached 11.2
billion yuan, a more than nine-fold increase from 2016. Meat products accounted
for more than one-third of China's total meat imports. In the first quarter of
this year, Ningbo's imports from the region increased by 102 percent year on
year to 4.39 billion yuan. As the China-CEEC Business Cooperation Demonstration Zone, Ningbo has also
expanded cooperation. As of the end of last year, 176 projects with two-way
investment exceeding $1 billion had been reached between Ningbo and CEEC. In April, the China (Ningbo Yuyao)-CEEC Industrial Cooperation Forum was held
in Budapest, Hungary, during which five projects related to high-end
manufacturing, information technology, biomedicine and virtual reality were
signed. The Ningbo CEEC (Budapest) Innovation Center was also launched at the
forum. Tourism and educational cooperation are also on track to be implemented. The city said it will launch a new direct flight to Budapest at the end of
May, and more CEEC travel products will be rolled out in the near future. More than 90 colleges in Central and Eastern Europe have cooperated with
Ningbo, with more than 1,000 teachers and students having worked and studied in
the city. One student is Stoyan Valentinov Gegovski of Bulgaria. Having graduated from
Ningbo University in 2022, he started his business — Zhejiang Yiliu Cultural
Communication Co — in Ningbo. The company aims to promote culture and tourism
cooperation between Ningbo and CEEC. "I recommend the Rose Valley in Bulgaria and the ancient Roman theater. And I
believe that more Chinese tourists would like to find out more about Central and
Eastern European countries in the future," he said.
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