Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Bulgarian counterpart Boiko Borisov on Friday sent congratulatory messages on the second Cultural Cooperation Forum between China and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries held in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

In his congratulatory message, Li said that there is a powerful force in culture to get straight through spirits across time and space. Both China and the 16 CEE countries boast a long history and a splendid culture, with a time-honored traditional friendship between the two sides.

He pointed out that over recent years, mutual trust between the two sides has kept strengthening, with flourishing development of practical cooperation in all fields. In particular, cultural exchange between the two sides has yielded rich fruits, and has played an irreplaceable important role therein, Li said.

China and CEE countries are old friends that have stood the test of time, and are also new partners oriented toward future. The Belt and Road Initiative (the initiative on the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road) will vigorously promote international production capacity cooperation, and help CEE countries to build infrastructure and realize their development blueprints, Li added.

He also said that the "16+1" cooperation -- cooperation between the 16 CEE countries and China -- is highly complementary to each other with tremendous development potential.