Li hails ties with Czech Republic

Premier says Beijing, Prague should link their development strategies in various industrial sectors

China is willing to enhance cooperation with the Czech Republic in areas including nuclear and finance, Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday.

Sino-Czech relations are gaining momentum, and China is willing to cooperate with the Czech Republic in various areas on the basis of mutual trust and respect, Li said.

Li made the remarks while meeting Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka in Beijing. The Czech premier was paying his first state visit to China after attending the Fourth Summit of China and Central and Eastern European Countries in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.

China would like to link its development strategy with the Czech Republic, make use of their complementary advantages, and enhance cooperation in areas including iron and steel, the auto industry, and machinery, Li said.

The two countries should use tools including big data to renovate their technologies, and deepen cooperation in scientific fields, he added.

Li and Sobotka attended the signning ceremony for 12 cooperative documents in areas including medicine, sports and tourism. At least four of them are about health cooperation, including inviting Czech infant patients to come to China for medical treatment.

China wants to speed up nuclear cooperation with the Czech Republic, Li told Sobotka.

Liu Haixing, director-general of the Department of European Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, said that two of the Czech Republic's nuclear reactor sets are in need of upgrading, and Chinese companies want to take part in that.

"There is no concrete agreement signed (about the nuclear reactor) yet, but we hope that in the future there would be such progress," he said, adding that China is willing to cooperate with France in the upgrade project.

"We hope to carry out nuclear cooperation with the Czech Republic, and participation of a third party is also welcomed. The Czech side would like to enhance aviation cooperation, including aviation manufacturing, with China, and we also welcome that," he said.

The two countries have made fruitful progress in health cooperation in traditional Chinese medicine and cancer-resistant drugs, he added.

On Thursday, China and the Czech Republic signed a memorandum of understanding on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, referring to Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.

Hailing the good momentum of bilateral ties, Sobotka said the MOU will bring more chances for cooperation, expressing hopes for more partnership with China in economy, industry, environment, finance, aviation and logistics, among others.

Sobotka told Li said that the Czech Republic hopes to deepen cooperation with China in areas including the nuclear industry, health, investment and finance.

anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn