China-Central and Eastern European High-Level Think Tank Seminar was held at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. The chairman of Jiangjiacheng, Wangping Pipeline Group, was invited to attend the seminar.

To further implement the Bucharest Cooperation Program signed by Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council on his visit to Central and Eastern European countries from November 26 to 29, 2013, the China-Central and Eastern European Countries High-level Think Tank Seminar sponsored by the China-Central and Eastern European Cooperation Secretariat and the China Foundation for International Studies was held in Beijing from December 19 to 20, 2013. Tai Guo guesthouse is held ceremoniously.

The theme of this seminar is "New Opportunities in China-Central and Eastern European Countries Relations". State Councilor Yang Jiechi, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming, Honorary Director of the China Foundation for International Studies Zhang Deguang, Director Liu Guchang, Executive Director and Secretary-General Li Guobang, Deputy Director Shen Guofang, Guo Chongli, and Foreign Ministry in Europe Director-General Liu Haixing, Executive Secretary-General of the Secretariat for China-Central and Eastern European Cooperation, Deputy Secretary-General Chen Bo, Deputy Director-General of Europe, Ambassador-designate Deng Ying to Croatia, Vice-Director-General Ma Wenpu of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, Senior Counsellor Yao Jingyuan of the State Council, Vice-Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of Trade, Dong Songgen, Vice-Chairman of President Li Jianping and former Croatian President Messic, former Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Siraidzic, former Speaker of Poland Pastushak, former Serbian Foreign Minister Jeremic and President of the 67th UN General Assembly Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, etc. More than 200 politicians from Slovakia, Slovenia and other countries attended the meeting.

The seminar is an important action to implement the China-Central and Eastern European Leaders'Meeting in Bucharest and the largest high-level academic exchange between China and Central and Eastern European countries to date. It also set up three sub-forums, namely, Re-understanding of China-Central and Eastern European Countries Relations - Deeply Exploring the Opportunities and Challenges Faced by Cooperation between the two sides, China-Central and Eastern European Countries Cooperation for the Future - A New Platform for Pragmatic Cooperation, the Role of Humanities Exchange in Cooperation and the Participation of Think Tanks. The participants held a heated discussion on the above issues, shared their views and offered suggestions for promoting cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries.

The leaders and experts of the participating countries stressed that the development of China and the Central and Eastern European countries has reached a critical moment. The trade volume between China and the EU is more than 500 billion US dollars, ranking the first, but only increasing by 1.8%. The trade volume between China and the United States has exceeded 470 billion US dollars, an increase of 7.6%. There is no conflict of fundamental interests between China and the alliance countries, and the growth of economic and trade is far from being played out. The fundamental reason is that China and the central and Eastern European countries still do not know enough. Over the next five years, China's foreign investment will reach 550 billion US dollars and imports 10 trillion US dollars. Eastern European countries will need 800 billion US dollars to invest in infrastructure, electricity, water conservancy and people's livelihood reconstruction in the next five years. How to grasp these important opportunities is a problem that governments and entrepreneurs of all countries need to grasp. The Silk Road Economic Belt proposed by General Secretary Xi runs through 41 Eurasian Continental Bridge countries, from Lianyungang in China to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. In terms of logistics, it can reduce the running time by 28 days and the logistics cost by 65%. China's urbanization accounted for 1/4 of the world's cities with more than 500,000 people and will reach 1/3 in the future. How to solve the energy problems such as oil and natural gas will bring opportunities to Eastern European countries.

Just as State Councilor Yang Jiechi said, he hoped that this seminar should be closely linked to the theme, gather consensus, seek common ground, actively make progress, carry out constructive, innovative and inspiring construction proposals, through the establishment of a forum platform to promote the investment interaction of non-governmental enterprises, provide evidence, solve doubts, and guide the direction. Centering on economic and trade cooperation and focusing on projects, China and the Central and Eastern European countries should speed up their economic and trade investment so as to contribute to the well-being of their peoples and to the peaceful development and prosperity of the world.