China, Czech Republic sign major business deals

World Today

Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped his three-day visit to the Czech Republic Wednesday.

CCTV’s Wu Haojun reports.

At his last stop, President Xi paid a visit to the over 800-year-old Strahov Library in Prague.

He toured the facility with Czech Republic President Milos Zeman, and stepped onto the veranda for a bird’s eye view of Prague.

Xi said there is great potential for both nations to conduct cultural exchanges and cooperation. Earlier, the two leaders attended a round-table meeting focusing on business deals.

Just a day after China and the Czech Republic elevated their political and economic ties, at the China-Czech economic and trade cooperation round-table on Wednesday, the two sides wasted no time in expanding cooperation in business.

Deals were signed between prominent business leaders from both sides in sectors ranging from energy and infrastructure to finance and telecommunications.

“The Czech Republic has become one of the countries with the most rapidly growing Chinese investments in the EU,” Xi said. “And strides continue to be made in cooperation. This would not have been possible without the efforts from companies from both countries. And I hope the entrepreneurs present here in our meeting today will fully utilize the opportunities available to them.”

China-Czech relations have now been elevated to a strategic partnership. President Zeman said this win-win cooperation will help the central European nation become China’s “entry gate” into the European Union.

And that is something that the Chinese leadership fully recognizes and appreciates.

China is the Czech Republic’s largest trade partner outside the European Union, and the Czech Republic is the second biggest trade partner of China in the Central and Eastern Europe region.

And that already solid relationship, the two sides hope, will become stronger.