China, Romania to deepen traditional friendship

During his stay in China, Ponta pledged that Romania will actively work to intensify China-Romania cooperation in politics, trade and culture, and promote both China-CEE and China-European Union (EU) relations.

Feng Zhongping, vice president of the Chinese Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said Romania has adopted a balanced policy when developing its foreign relations -- attaching importance to relations both with Western countries and with China.

The two countries have also conducted multi-faceted cooperation.

Two-way trade has reached 3.27 billion U.S. Dollars by October this year, while that in 2000 stood at less than 300 million dollars. China's current total investment in Romania tops 160 million dollars.

Analysts said that Romania has high expectations of drawing Chinese enterprises' investments and expanding cooperation with China in infrastructure construction, renewable energy and agriculture.

Chinese enterprises, such as the leading information and communications technology solutions provider Huawei, has boosted local employment and provided technological support for Romania.

Huawei, which now boasts a 70,000-strong research & development (R&D) team globally, opened its official subsidiary in Romania in 2003. It currently employs some 800 people in Romania and has helped created more than 2,500 job opportunities in the country.

According to Wang Haitao, CEO of Huawei Romania, the company is planning to further expand its presence in Romania in the coming years, by investing 120 million dollars in the country by 2018.

Achievements have also been scored in cooperation in areas such as education, science and technology, culture, health and tourism.

So far, four Confucius Institutes have been launched in Romania to advance cultural exchanges between the two sides.

The enhanced China-Romania relations will set an example for bilateral relations between China and other CEE countries, said Cui Hongjian.

Located in the northeast of the Balkan Peninsula, Romania is the eastern gate to the EU. Practical cooperation between China and Romania also helps boost China-Europe cooperation.

Feng Zhongping said developing China-Romania relations will help supplement China-Europe and China-CEE relations and will certainly promote the development of the CEE and Europe as a whole.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Thursday, Ponta said Li's visit to Romania and the China-CEE leaders' meeting will further bolster the cooperative ties between the two sides.

"Premier Li Keqiang's trip to Romania will be a historic one," Ponta told Xinhua, "The fact that prime ministers of 16 Central and Eastern European countries would gather in Bucharest for the China-CEE leaders' meeting is proof of the strong will of these countries to strengthen our friendly ties with China and further shore up our mutually benefiting economic and trade cooperation."

Analysts agreed that Li's visit to Romania will be of great significance to China-Romania relations, cooperation between China and CEE countries and China-EU relations.

Li's upcoming visit also demonstrates that China continues to attach great importance to the relations with CEE countries as well as those with EU.