Ningbo hosts inaugural expo with European countries

Ningbo, a seaport city in East China's Zhejiang province, will host the first China-CEEC Investment and Trade Expo from Monday through Friday.

The five-day event aims to promote economic and cultural cooperation among China and countries in Central and Eastern Europe, according to the organizing committee.

Government officials and company executives from 16 Central and Eastern European countries including Poland and the Czech Republic will join the event.

The exposition, with the theme of furthering openingup and cooperation and jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, comprises meetings on investment, exhibitions, forums for better cooperation and cultural exchanges.

The Belt and Road Initiative, referring to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives, was launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013 as transport infrastructure projects linking Asia and Europe.

Ningbo is among the cities along the ancient Maritime Silk Road while the 16 Central and Eastern European countries, covering a total area of about 1.3 million square kilometers and with a population of 123 million, are in a key region on the Silk Road Economic Belt.

The China-CEEC Investment and Trade Expo is an important event for Ningbo to help implement the Belt and Road Initiative, said Lu Ziyue, mayor of the city. The city government issued a document on promoting cooperation between Ningbo and countries in Central and Eastern Europe on May 29.

It includes some preferential policies targeting Central and Eastern European traders participating in the China-CEEC Investment and Trade Expo.

The Ningbo government will provide such traders with subsidies for booth rental during the expo and simplify procedures regarding their customs declarations of goods and inspections. It will also earmark funds each year to help local enterprises invest in the European countries.

Representatives from Central and Eastern European organizations promoting investment, economic development zones and companies will attend meetings focusing on investment during the expo.

A specialty products fair with an exhibition area of 5,000 square meters and some 260 booths is also included, according to the organizing committee.

More than 180 enterprises from Central and Eastern Europe attended a similar fair last year to exhibit their specialty goods including honey, wines, meat products, olive oil, handicrafts and cosmetics.

Governors and mayors from Zhejiang and regions in Central and Eastern Europe will discuss cooperation between cities in Zhejiang and those in European countries at a forum during the expo.

Cultural exchanges planned at the event include a meeting for tourism cooperation and an exhibition of pictures showing how Chinese view other countries and regions, including those in Central and Eastern Europe.

The document issued by the Ningbo government also encourages people-to-people exchanges between Ningbo and cities in Central and Eastern Europe.

The local government plans to subsidize artists from Ningbo's sister cities in Central and Eastern Europe when they perform in Ningbo.

It will also ofer scholarships to Central and Eastern European students in Ningbo each year and help promote cooperation between schools in the city and those in the European regions.

Ningbo's total imports and exports with Central and East European countries amounted to $2.44 billion in 2014, up 7.6 percent from 2.27 billion the previous year.

Ningbo mainly exports household goods including clothes, lamps and plastic products and imports industrial raw materials including scrap metal, copper and iron ore.

The Ningbo government plans to increase the value of annual imports and exports between Ningbo and Central and Eastern European countries to $6 billion within five years, according to the document issued in May.

Ningbo is one of China's oldest cities and dates back about 7,000 years. Ningbo Port became commercial during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) and is now a modern multipurpose deep-water port, consisting of inland, estuary and coastal harbors.

The port handled a total volume of 525 million metric tons of cargo in 2014, ranking third among all ports on the Chinese mainland and fourth in the world. It handled 18.65 million standard containers last year and became the world's fifth-largest port in terms of container throughput.

shixf@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/08/2015 page7)