SOFIA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- An international conference focused on  agricultural cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European  countries (CEEC) was held Thursday in Sofia, bringing officials and  experts to reflect on past achievements and explore more prospects.

The event marked the 10th anniversary of the Association for the  Promotion of Agricultural Cooperation between China and the CEECs, Wang  Min, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Bulgaria, highlighted  the growth and progress made since the association was established at  the intergovernmental level in Sofia on June 26, 2015.

Wang  noted that bilateral trade in agricultural products between China and  the CEEC has grown significantly over the past decade. Technological  cooperation in agriculture continues to deepen, and exchanges in  agricultural talent have steadily progressed.

Describing the  sector as "one of the earliest established, most fruitful, most widely  recognized, and most broadly participated" within the China-CEEC  cooperation framework, Wang emphasized the association's role in  developing e-commerce and logistics hubs. These cooperations have  brought CEECs' agricultural products to major exhibitions in China, such  as the Bulgarian National Pavilion in Hangzhou and the China-CEEC  Agricultural Products Exhibition Hall in Ningbo.

Lozana  Vasileva, deputy minister of agriculture and food of Bulgaria, also  commended her country's cooperation with China. She stressed that  through the successful implementation of numerous initiatives, programs,  and projects, the association has effectively promoted agricultural and  food trade between China and the CEEC, and she expressed confidence in  achieving further mutually beneficial outcomes.

Leng Changjian,  president of Shandong Agricultural University, also spoke at the event.  He lauded the agricultural cooperation between China and CEECs while  acknowledging the challenges ahead. "Standing at a new historical  juncture, cooperation between China and CEEC is brimming with boundless  vitality and energy, and the prospects for future collaboration are  vast," he said.

The conference also featured a prize ceremony  for the December 2024 edition of the Academy for Entrepreneurship in  Agriculture, initiated by the association. Gergana Kermenova, 18 years  old, won a prize of 5,000 BGN (some 2,965 U.S. dollars) for her  innovative solution to a honey marketing problem in Bulgaria.