The Bucharest Guidelines for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries
On 26 November 2013, the Meeting of Heads of Government of China and Central and Eastern European Countries was held in Bucharest, Romania. Premier Li Keqiang of the People's Republic of China, Prime Minister Victor Ponta of Romania, Prime Minister Edi Rama of the Republic of Albania, Chairman of the Council of Ministers Vjekoslav Bevanda of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski of the Republic of Bulgaria, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic of the Republic of Croatia, Prime Minister Jiri Rusnok of the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip of the Republic of Estonia, Prime Minister Orban Viktor of Hungary, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius of the Republic of Lithuania, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of the Republic of Macedonia, Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic of Montenegro, Prime Minister Donald Tusk of the Republic of Poland, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic of the Republic of Serbia, Prime Minister Robert Fico of the Slovak Republic, Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek of the Republic of Slovenia and Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkevics, representative of Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis of the Republic of Latvia, attended the meeting. They expressed appreciation and gratitude to Romania for the efforts it had made as the host country to ensure the success of the meeting.
Parties at the meeting reviewed the achievements made in cooperation between China and central and eastern European countries (CEECs), commended the important contribution of China-CEEC cooperation to solidifying China-CEEC traditional friendship, strengthening political mutual trust, deepening practical cooperation, enhancing people-to-people and cultural exchanges and promoting all-round development of China-Europe relations and agreed that China-CEEC cooperation conforms to the respective features of development and cooperation needs of China and CEECs and meets the common aspirations and interests of their peoples.
Parties at the meeting stressed that China-CEEC cooperation is in concord with China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership and expressed their readiness to continue to strengthen and deepen China-CEEC cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit and work to make it a growth point in China-Europe cooperation for the benefit of development in all the countries, their peoples as well as world peace and stability, while offering useful experience for countries with different civilizations, systems and levels of development to live in harmony with one another and develop hand in hand.
To further advance China-CEEC cooperation, parties at the meeting jointly formulated and issued the Bucharest Guidelines for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries focusing on the theme of the meeting Win-Win Cooperation for Common Development and affirmed that cooperation will be conducted in accordance with their respective laws and regulations, and in the case of EU member states, relevant EU legislation and regulations will also be observed.
I. Hold a China-CEEC meeting of heads of government every year to review cooperation achievements and set the direction for future cooperation. Parties will discuss and set the date and venue of the 2014 meeting as soon as possible.
II. Consider formulating a medium-term agenda for cooperation when appropriate in light of how China-CEEC cooperation evolves.
III. Promote investment, economic and trade cooperation
i. Firmly oppose protectionism in all its forms and manifestations, work to promote mutual investment and scale up and upgrade economic cooperation and trade while striving to mitigate its current imbalances.
ii. Designate and announce 2014 as the China-CEEC Investment and Business Promotion Year, and under its framework:
1. Hold a China-CEEC ministerial meeting on promotion of economic cooperation and trade;
2. Hold an expo of CEEC commodities in China;
3. Hold a China-CEEC symposium on macroeconomic policies in China;
4. Hold a China-CEEC symposium on investment promotion in China;
5. Organize a China-CEEC investment promotion event at the China International Fair for Investment and Trade;
6. Hold a China investment forum in the Czech Republic;
7. Establish a China-CEEC liaison mechanism for investment promotion agencies;
8. Support the establishment of a China-CEEC association of chambers of commerce, joined by chambers of commerce of China and CEECs on a voluntary basis.
iii. Encourage SMEs to play an active role in business cooperation and discuss the possibility of establishing a platform for China-CEEC SME exchanges and cooperation. The Chinese side welcomes CEECs' participation in the China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair in 2014 and is ready to organize a special event for CEEC SMEs at the Fair. Parties support SMEs in strengthening cooperation in green technologies. Poland will hold a special event during POLEKO Fairs in Poland.
iv. Encourage Chinese and CEEC businesses to discuss the possibility and opportunities of using convenient geographic location and favorable investment conditions of China and CEECs to jointly explore third markets.
v. Encourage parties to develop agrotrade when supplies are ensured and their respective inspection and quarantine requirements are met.
vi. Support the establishment of a China-CEEC association to promote agricultural cooperation. Relevant Chinese and CEEC agencies, businesses and organizations are welcome to join on a voluntary basis.
vii. China and one of the CEECs will take turns to hold a China-CEEC agricultural cooperation forum.
IV. Expand financial cooperation
i. China and CEECs will step up coordination, encourage their financial institutions to engage in cooperation in flexible and diverse forms and bring into full play the role of the US$10 billion special credit line in promoting China-CEEC economic cooperation and trade.
ii. Parties welcome the official launch of the China-CEEC Investment Cooperation Fund (stage one), commend the efforts made by Chinese, Polish and Hungarian financial institutions, support the relevant financial institutions in launching stage two of the fund at an appropriate time and encourage more financial institutions and businesses to contribute to the fund. In the meantime, CEEC governments, financial institutions and businesses are welcome to recommend high-quality and promising projects to the Fund.
iii. Support qualified and interested financial institutions of China and CEECs in establishing branches and developing business in each other's countries in line with the relevant regulatory and supervisory legislation. Support the People's Bank of China and the central banks of CEECs in signing agreements of currency swaps as they see necessary and promote local currency settlement as one of the means to promote trade and investment.
iv. Support qualified and interested Chinese and CEEC institutions in investing in each other's inter-bank bond market.
V. Enhance cooperation in connectivity
i. Actively discuss the possibility of building an international railway transportation corridor connecting China with CEECs and encourage businesses to establish bonded areas and distribution centers along the railway routes to build a new logistics passage between China and Europe.
ii. Strengthen cooperation in infrastructure development, such as construction of roads, railways, ports and airports based on the principle of mutual benefit.
iii. Support the establishment of a China-CEEC association on infrastructure cooperation and relevant Chinese and CEEC agencies and businesses are welcome to join on a voluntary basis.
iv. Welcome a high-level conference on transport, logistics and trade routes connecting Asia with Europe to be held in 2014 in Riga, Latvia.
VI. Expand cooperation in science, technology, innovation, environmental protection and energy
i. Hold on a regular basis a China-CEEC symposium to promote innovation, technological cooperation and international technology transfer, with the first symposium to be held in 2014.
ii. Strengthen cooperation in the information and communications sector.
iii. Strengthen China-CEEC cooperation and exchanges on protection of forest, wetland and wildlife and development of green economy and eco-culture.
iv. The Chinese side stands ready to strengthen cooperation and exchanges with CEECs on environment-friendly science and technology, negotiate the signing of relevant MOUs on environmental cooperation, encourage institutes of environmental science and research from China and CEECs to establish partnerships and research networks, support environmental experts and scholars in carrying out exchanges and mutual visits, engage in cooperative research programs on water, air and solid waste management, promote exchanges, cooperation and capacity building in the fields of eco-industries, sustainable consumption and production and environmental labeling certification, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win progress in environmental science, technology and innovation.
v. The Chinese side stands ready to step up cooperation with CEECs on nuclear power, wind power, hydro power, solar power and other sources of clean power for mutual benefit and common development. CEECs welcome the Chinese readiness in this regard.
vi. Encourage closer cooperation between China and CEECs in the fields of protection and sustainable use of natural resources, geology, mining and spatial planning.
VII. Promote dynamic people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation
i. Hold the first China-CEEC high-level symposium of think tanks in China in December 2013.
ii. The Secretariat for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries will organize mutual visits by 50 Chinese journalists and 50 CEEC journalists in 2014.
iii. Hold the China-CEEC Young Political Leaders' Forum and the China-CEEC Cultural Cooperation Forum once every two years. China and CEECs will discuss and set the venues and dates of the two events to be held in 2015 as soon as possible.
iv. Support the establishment of a China-CEEC association of tourism promotion agencies and businesses and welcome Chinese and CEEC tourism promotion agencies and businesses to join on a voluntary basis. Promotion events of Chinese and CEEC tourism products will continue to be held at the China International Travel Mart.
v. Hold on a regular basis the China-CEEC Education Policy Dialogue. Actively explore the possibility of establishing a China-CEEC association of institutes of higher learning.
vi. Take effective measures to facilitate movement of people. The Chinese side welcomes visa and residence permit facilitation measures of Romania and the Czech Republic for Chinese citizens and announces that citizens of all the 16 CEECs will be entitled to 72-hour visa-free transit in Beijing, Shanghai and other ports.
VIII. Cooperation at the sub-national level will be encouraged and supported as one of the important pillars of China-CEEC cooperation. Support the establishment of a China-CEEC association of provincial governors, joined by Chinese and CEEC provinces, states and municipalities on a voluntary basis. The China-CEEC Local Leaders' Meeting will be held once every two years.