Romania participates at the China - Central and Eastern Europe Cooperation Summit, Suzhou, China

Romania is interested in materializing the initiatives and projects on the Romanian-Chinese bilateral agenda, particularly the projects on energy, transport infrastructure and information technology, that should better capitalize on the creative potential, Romanian Minister of Economy, Trade and the Relations with the Business Climate, Costin Borc told the China - Central and Eastern Europe Cooperation Summit, according to a ministry release sent on Tuesday. Borc, also a Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu took part in the 4th edition of the Summit held in Suzhou, China on Tuesday, the release added. The host of the event was Chinese Premier Li Keqiang who, alongside the representatives of 16 Central and East European states set the priorities for the development of the cooperation, on the economy chiefly during the next four years and examined the developments in the implementation of the already agreed projects. On this occasion, Borc and Comanescu had a bilateral meeting with Li Keqiang, whom they handed in a letter from Romanian counterpart Dacian Ciolos. Borc called for more intense bilateral cooperation on agriculture, so as to allow more efficient evolution of the Romanian exports to China as well as for the diversification of the initiatives on tourism. The Chinese premier appreciated both Prime Minister Ciolos's message and the proposals unveiled by Vice Premier Borc during the bilateral meeting. Borc, in an address to the plenary gathering, underlined the preoccupation of the new Romanian Government for seeing the ambitious agenda of the China - Central and Eastern Europe cooperation materialize, especially by including Romania's potential of a regional hub in the future routes of the multi-modal goods transport between China and Europe. Specifically highlighted were the possibilities for the development of the infrastructure in the Black Sea port of Constanta and the Danube River area. Borc also supported the initiative of Romania's taking up the coordination of the Sectorial Group on the energy cooperation between China and the 16 countries in the region. He underscored the need to attract regional resources, resources from the European Union and from China in order to capitalize on the creative potential in the information technology sector and on the new technologies in communications, information society and energy, by using already launched capacities or capacities that are undergoing consolidation in Romania.