DEEPENED COOPERATION

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman attend a press conference after their talks in Prague, the Czech Republic, March 29, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Xi and Zeman agreed to enhance production capacity cooperation in manufacturing industry such as machinery, automobile and aviation, deepen cooperation in such fields as finance, nuclear energy, air transportation and industrial park to establish all-dimensional connectivity, and push forward innovation cooperation in emerging fields such as e-commerce, communication, artificial intelligence industry, nanotechnology and environment protection.

"We are very proud of our economic and trade achievements with China," Zeman told the press.

For many years in a row, China has been the Czech Republic's largest trading partner outside the EU and the Czech Republic China's second largest trading partner in the CEE. In 2015, bilateral trade topped 11 billion U.S. dollars.

Statistics from China's Ministry of Commerce show that at the end of 2015, China's investment in the Czech Republic surged to 1.6 billion dollars from 200 million dollars in 2013. Meanwhile total investment from the Czech Republic to China amounts to 1.8 billion dollars.

"Economic and trade cooperation can be enhanced by giving full play to each other's advantages," said Cui, adding that the cooperation on aviation and industrial parks "are good examples" as the Czech Republic is very strong on aircraft manufacturing, while industrial parks construction is China's strength.

The two sides also agreed to strengthen the synergy of China's "Belt and Road Initiative" and the Czech development strategies, and jointly draw up a cooperation plan between the two countries, so as to serve as the framework for guiding their practical cooperation in the next period.

Zeman, referring to China as "a major economic partner" of the EU, said his country is committed to becoming a gateway for China to the EU and a hub of transportation, logistics and finance in China-EU trade by joining hands with China in deepening mutual trust and playing a conducive role in pushing China-CEE cooperation forward.