Premier Li Keqiang sent a letter of encouragement on May 4 to the China and Central and Eastern European Countries Economic and Trade Forum, being held in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). BiH Presidency Chairman Bakir Izetbegovic and Denis Zvizdic, chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, were at the opening ceremony of the forum.

In the letter, Premier Li wrote that the “16+1” cooperation has been growing in the past four years. An all-around, wide-ranging and multi-level stage of cooperation has been created, which played an important role in promoting the development of the 17 countries and enriched the meaning of Sino-EU strategic partnership.

Premier Li said that it is a priority and common sense for leaders from the 17 countries to further enhance the “16+1” cooperation and drive a more diversified pattern for production capacity cooperation. Productive capacity cooperation will effectively promote economic growth and improve people’s livelihood, the Premier said. It is also a new way to complement each other’s advantages and achieve win-win cooperation and common development, he added.

“I believe the ‘16+1’ economic and trade forum held this year will play an important part in promoting international production capacity cooperation and making more contributions to the improvement of quality and efficiency for the ‘16+1’ cooperation,” said the Premier.

China has a great influence on the world economy, and the central and eastern European countries are an important part of Europe, Izetbegovic said in his speech, adding that both sides can strengthen cooperation to achieve mutual benefits and win-win development. BiH is willing to make use of its geographic advantages to actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China, and play a greater role in promoting the connectivity between regions and enhancing regional economic and social development.

Zvizdic said that the “16+1” cooperation is a good platform for mutual benefits and win-win development and is significant in enhancing the economic development of BiH and improving regional competitiveness. BiH has great potential in fields such as infrastructure and energy, and is willing to expand production cooperation and bring more vitality to regional development.