Ningbo-CEEC ties herald a new future

There are rows of wine bottles on one side and stacks of anti-aging creams on the other side. Since consuming too much alcohol speeds up aging, the placement of these two products near each other makes sense.

Welcome to the third China-Central and Eastern European Countries Expo and International Consumer Goods Fair in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province.

The expo, which began on May 16 and ran until May 20, attracted more than 400 exhibitors, a 30 percent increase compared to 2022, showcasing about 3,000 products at the five-day event.

China's Ministry of Commerce said the expo aimed at strengthening trade between China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

This year's event featured 27 key events, with a primary focus on trade, technology, tourism, and healthcare.

The expo had three exhibition areas: Central and Eastern Europe Exhibition, International Consumer Goods Exhibition, and Imported Commodities Annual Exhibition, with a total exhibition area of 220,000 square meters, a rise of 20,000 square meters over the previous edition.

Bilateral trade between Zhejiang and Central and Eastern European member countries hit $22.5 billion in 2022, data shows.

But it is not just the province that is benefitting from the close cooperation with the Central and Eastern European countries.

The port city of Ningbo, the host of the expo, saw imports from CEEC reach $380 million, up 84.9 percent year-on-year from January to February 2023, as per the city's customs authority. As per figures, statistics show that in the first two months of this year, Ningbo imported cosmetics and toiletries worth $200 million from CEEC in the first two months of this year.

The bilateral trade between China and CEEC rose 1.6 percent year-on-year to $33.3 billion in this year's first quarter. And it has been growing at 8.1 percent annually since 2012, with China's imports from CEEC increasing 9.2 percent annually.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, China's direct investment in CEEC surged 148 percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2023. Currently, the bilateral investment volume has approached $20 billion.

Chinese investments have been flowing into the auto parts, home appliance, medicine, logistics, energy and minerals sectors.

China is also playing a central role in the construction of transportation and basic infrastructure projects, such as the China-built highway in Montenegro, Peljesac Bridge in Croatia, and the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway.

Meanwhile, CEEC nations have become important nodes and destinations of China-Europe freight trains, a flagship connectivity project under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The number of China-Europe freight train services increased by 17 percent year-on-year to 5,611 trips in the first four months of 2023.

In April alone, the number of China-Europe freight train trips surged 25 percent year-on-year to 1,459.

In 2021, China set a goal of importing more than $170 billion worth of goods from CEEC in the next five years.

Hosting such a prestigious event in Ningbo compliments the city's economic prowess.

In 2022, the GDP of Ningbo was $233.47 billion, and it was ranked 12th among 293 cities in China. The city ranked seventh in terms of average yearly disposable income in the year of 2020.

Ningbo has global headquarters and registered offices of over 100 listed companies, and many regional business headquarters. In 2021, Ningbo had the seventh most listed companies of all cities in China.

Furthermore, the city was among the top 10 Chinese cities in the Urban Business Environment Report released by China Central Television in 2019.

The city's port, the busiest port in China, saw its cargo throughput exceed 1.25 billion tons in 2022, ranking first globally for the 14th consecutive year. The port's container throughput hit 33.35 million twenty-foot equivalent units last year, ranking third worldwide.

Therefore, it is not a surprise that relations between Ningbo and CEEC are projected to strengthen.