It has been nine years since cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) began. This cooperation covers a wide range of sectors, including a "green consensus."

Considerable work can be done to advance international cooperation on climate change, jointly implement the Paris Agreement and contribute to the success of COP26 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, both to be held this year.

China and the European Union (EU) have both committed to achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions and have launched a partnership for green cooperation, to which China-CEEC cooperation can make an important contribution.

China has vowed to peak its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. It resists the old way of developing the economy at the cost of the environment. For their part, the CEE countries see the post-pandemic era as an important period to develop a green economy. To double CEE countries' agricultural exports to China and develop more tourism products with local features, for instance, deeper exchanges and cooperation in terms of the green economy are required.

Healthy and sustainable development for both sides will inject new momentum into China-CEEC cooperation in many other domains, including but not limited to coordination and cooperation in COVID-19 response, energy, innovation and cultural exchange.

China-CEEC cooperation arises from the shared interests of China and the CEEC. As part of China-EU cooperation, the cooperation between the two sides has always been open and transparent, contributing to the development of the CEEC as well as Europe's integration process.

The cooperation is in no way intended to start all over again, let alone to divide Europe, as some Western skeptics groundlessly conjectured. The EU and other interested parties are invited to observe every conference within the China-CEEC framework, and the consensus reached under the cooperation mechanism is open and beneficial to all sides. This partnership is a helpful complement to China's cooperation with the EU.

The cooperation between China and the CEEC has supported the development of all parties involved and bettered people's lives. With shared commitment and efforts, the two sides will achieve more solid, substantive and enduring progress, setting an example of practical trans-regional cooperation for the world community.