Premier arrives amid tightly packed schedule

Premier Li Keqiang checks the time on his way to a series of diplomatic meetings in Suzhou on Tuesday, just hours after he wrapped up a busy trip to Malaysia for the ASEAN annual meeting. Chinese media dubbed Li's diligent working style "Keqiang rhythm". WU ZHIYI/CHINA DAILY

A busy timetable saw Premier Li Keqiang reach Suzhou, Jiangsu province, at about 2:30 am on Tuesday for a key meeting involving leaders from Central and Eastern Europe.

Li flew in after attending the East Asia Summit and related forums in Kuala Lumpur during the weekend and making a state visit to Malaysia on Monday.

He arrived in Suzhou for the Fourth Summit of China and Central and Eastern European Countries.

After his flight on Monday evening, the premier worked through the night and held bilateral talks with leaders from Estonia, Poland and Slovenia on Tuesday morning.

Li told Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas that China hopes Estonia can make full use of its location, take part in the construction of rail freight lines between China and Europe and promote joint links.

China wants to enhance cooperation with Estonia on infrastructure projects including railways and port construction, to learn from each other, and promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation, Li said.

Roivas said Estonia welcomes Chinese investment and wants to use its geographic advantage to become a key location for Sino-European links.

In talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Li said China wishes to link its development strategy with Poland's.

It wants to increase trade and investment, boost cooperation on production capacity, and expand cooperation in areas including infrastructure construction, traffic and logistics, and clean energy.

Duda said he is glad to be visiting China for the first time.

He hailed China's economic and social development and said he hopes Central and Eastern European countries, including Poland, can benefit from China's development.

Li told Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar that China wants to take part in projects including an upgrade to Luka Koper port in Slovenia and building railways in the country.

The two countries should enhance cooperation on trade zones, logistics, equipment manufacturing and infrastructure, Li said.

He added that the Chinese government is encouraging enterprises to take part in the process of privatizing Slovenian state-owned companies.

anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn