On February 5, the Fifth China-CEEC Local Leaders’ meeting was held via video link. This event, under the theme “Work Together for Common Development and A Shared Future”, was co-hosted by Liaoning Provincial People’s Government, the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), the Secretariat for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries and the China-CEEC Association of Governors of Provinces and Regions. Vice Governor Guo Ningning and heads of relevant Fujian provincial departments, together with some 300 representatives from across China and CEE countries, attended the meeting.

In 2012, China and 17 CEE countries along the Belt and Road kick-started the China-CEEC cooperation mechanism, for which the China-CEEC Association of Governors of Provinces and Regions serves as an important platform. As a member of the Association, Fujian has been in recent years active in friendly exchanges and practical cooperation with CEE countries, successfully establishing ten sister-city ties, including four provincial-level ones, with countries in the region. In the face of the once-in-a-century pandemic, people from both sides readily lent helping hands to each other. Fujian donated PPE and other anti-epidemic supplies and hosted several webinars for sharing experience on fighting the pandemic. Going through such testing times, the bilateral friendship grows even stronger.

Going forward, under the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and China-CEEC cooperation, Fujian will continue to strengthen pragmatic cooperation to enhance sister-city relationship, business ties, project matchmaking and people-to-people exchanges with CEE countries.