Interview: Chinese premier's "historic" visit to Romania to boost Sino-EU ties: Romanian PM

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Interview: Chinese premier's "historic" visit to Romania to boost Sino-EU ties: Romanian PM

By Lin Huifen Chen Jin (Xinhua) 08:21, November 22, 2013

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BUCHAREST, Nov. 21 -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's upcoming visit to Romania and the China-Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) leaders' meeting will further bolster the cooperative ties between the two sides, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said here on Thursday.

"Premier Li Keqiang's trip to Romania will be a historic one," Ponta told Xinhua in an exclusive interview days ahead of next week's China-CEE leaders' meeting.

"The fact that prime ministers of 16 central and eastern European countries would gather in Bucharest for the China-CEE leaders' meeting is proof of the strong will of these countries to strengthen our friendly ties with China and further shore up our mutually benefiting economic and trade cooperation," he said.

The prime minister said the CEE countries could serve as a gateway to the European Union (EU) for China, and expressed hope that Romania could emerge as a special partner for Beijing in the region, while noting that his country has long stood by China as a reliable ally on the global stage as well as in the EU.

Romania was among the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC). Bilateral trade in 2012 amounted to 3.78 billion U.S. dollars, up from just 3 million U.S. dollars in 2000.

According to Ponta, although Sino-Romanian economic cooperation has undergone substantial development in recent years, the two countries are far from realizing their full potentials. He said he expected Premier Li's visit would come with a major push in this regard, especially in the fields of energy, infrastructure, IT and food industry.

He also encourages more Chinese companies to invest in Romania, and acknowledged achievements made in the cultural exchanges.

Commenting on the growing China-CEE relations, Ponta said China's historic decision to reinforce ties with the CEE countries and to engage the region as a whole demonstrated the great importance the country has attached to central and eastern Europe.

He said cooperation between China and CEE countries would be complementary to the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, and that the upcoming leaders' meeting as well as the China-CEE Economic & Trade Forum would further add weight to China-EU ties.

（Editor：LiangJun、Zhang Qian）