General

On the 15th, the reporter learned from the General Administration of Customs that in the first four months of this year, China's economy and trade with Central and Eastern European countries saw a "good start", with a year-on-year increase of 2.8%; From 2012 to 2022, China's agricultural product imports from Central and Eastern European countries increased by 9.33% annually. Analysis suggests that these data are a powerful counterattack to the previous argument that "cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries is already dead in name". Officials from the General Administration of Customs stated that this year, China Central and Eastern European countries have entered the second decade of cooperation, and exchanges and cooperation in areas such as economy, trade, investment, and tourism within the framework of China Central and Eastern European countries are showing a rapid recovery trend.

On the 15th, the 6th China Central and Eastern European Countries Customs Inspection and Quarantine Cooperation Dialogue was held in Ningbo. The theme of this dialogue is "Building a Green Channel for Central and Eastern European Countries to Export Commodities to China", focusing on promoting the access of agricultural and food products from Central and Eastern European countries, facilitating customs clearance of goods, and expanding the export of Central and Eastern European commodities to China.

According to the reporter, the inspection and quarantine cooperation of the General Administration of Customs is an important condition for the smooth trade of the "the Belt and Road". Within the framework of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries, Chinese customs actively engage in practical cooperation with customs and inspection and quarantine departments of Central and Eastern European countries, and have established policy communication and coordination platforms such as the General Administration of Customs Cooperation Forum and Inspection and Quarantine Cooperation Dialogue Meeting.

In his keynote speech at the dialogue, Wang Lingjun, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Customs of China, stated that in the current uncertain situation, China and Central and Eastern European countries have deepened cooperation and shared opportunities, and achieved fruitful results in political, economic, trade, and cultural cooperation. This has greatly enhanced the resilience and vitality of bilateral and multilateral economic and trade cooperation, not only promoting economic development and improving people's well-being, but also enhancing confidence in the recovery of the world economy, Stabilized expectations.

According to the introduction, in 2022, the total bilateral trade value between China and Central and Eastern European countries was 921 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9%. This year, China's economic and trade cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries has ushered in a "successful start". In the first four months, the total import and export volume between China and Central and Eastern European countries was 44.87 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 2.8%. In terms of agricultural and food products, China's imports and exports of agricultural products to Central and Eastern Europe reached 310 million US dollars and 410 million US dollars, respectively, with a significant year-on-year increase of 43.1% and 28%.

Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries is an important component of China Europe relations. Ambassador Jiang Yu, the Special Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for China Central and Eastern European Countries Cooperation, stated in his speech that actively expanding the scale of agricultural products exported from Central and Eastern Europe to China has always been a priority area and key direction of China Central and Eastern European countries cooperation. Over the past 10 years since the launch of China Central and Eastern European countries cooperation, China has approved nearly 200 types of food, live products, and agricultural products from Central and Eastern European countries to enter the Chinese market. The export of agricultural products from Central and Eastern European countries to China has increased by 1.5 times, higher than the growth rate of bilateral trade during the same period. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, from 2012 to 2022, China's agricultural product imports from Central and Eastern European countries increased by 9.33% annually.

Jiang Yu also stated that recently, China and Europe have comprehensively resumed exchanges at all levels, reached many important political consensus, and signed a number of significant practical cooperation documents. The leaders of both sides unanimously emphasized that China and Europe share broad common interests, and that cooperation between China and Europe has strong resilience and potential. Both sides adhere to mutual benefit and win-win results, maintain openness in trade and investment, and jointly oppose decoupling and chain breaking. I hope that friends from all walks of life in Central and Eastern European countries can keenly grasp the new development opportunities of China Europe relations, actively strengthen communication and coordination with China, use China Central and Eastern European countries cooperation as a platform, based on their own resource endowment advantages, inject strong momentum into the global economy from China's modernization, achieve integration at a higher level, and explore a broader path for their own development

The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Resources of Serbia, Yelena Tanaskovic, stated that there is still room for growth in trade between Serbia and China, especially considering China's market potential and Serbia's level of agricultural and food product productivity.

Representatives from other Central and Eastern European countries, including Hungary and Romania, have also expressed the enormous potential of the Chinese market. In addition, Xu Beidi, Vice President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China of China and President of the Shanghai Branch, said in his speech at the conference that the resumption of international travel in 2023 will enable China and European countries to have face-to-face dialogue, which also highlights the importance of China to the EU, and European enterprises see the scale and huge potential of China's market.

Cui Hongjian, Director of the European Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of International Studies, stated in an interview that there is potential for cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries because of mutual demand, especially in the field of trade, which has shown rapid growth in the past decade. He believes that this reflects the vitality and potential of cooperation between both parties. After the resumption of normal communication between the two sides, the growth trend of trade between China and Central and Eastern European countries will continue, not only in the field of agricultural products, but also in new fields such as finance and investment