China, Czech pledge closer nuclear power, finance cooperation

BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Czech counterpart Bohuslav Sobotka pledged to boost cooperation in nuclear power, finance and other sectors during talk on Friday.

"China's nuclear power technology and equipment are safe and inexpensive, which has made them competitive globally," Li said, adding that the Chinese side is willing to participate in Czech's nuclear power business.

Sobotka, who is making his first official visit to China, said he welcomes China's participation in Czech's nuclear power business. He added that the two sides can study the feasibility of conducting nuclear power cooperation in markets outside of the two territories.

Earlier this week, Sobotka attended the fourth summit of China and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in east China's Suzhou city, where Li proposed to set up a multilateral financial firm between China and the 16 CEE countries.

On the financial front, Li said on Friday that he hopes China and Czech will innovate and expand the mode of financial cooperation within the framework if the "16+1" financial firm in discussion, which he said will strongly support practical cooperation between the two countries.

China stands ready to talk with Czech on establishing a RMB settlement mechanism in Prague, Li added.

During his part, Sobotka expressed his hope to make Czech a regional hub for financial cooperation, given the country's geographical advantages.

During the talks, Li and Sobotka also discussed cooperation on aligning the two countries development strategies in sectors including steel, automobile, medicine and health care, education, and tourism.

On Thursday, Sobotka and Chinese President Xi Jinping witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on jointly building the China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.

On Friday, Li and Sobotka witnessed the signing of 12 cooperation documents after their talks at the Great Hall of the People.

Prior to the talks, Li held a red-carpet ceremony to welcome the visiting prime minister.