The ninth summit between China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), originally scheduled for the first half of 2020, has been postponed due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian announced at a regular press briefing on Tuesday. 

China is the host country of this year's China-CEEC Summit, also known as the 17+1 cooperation summit. 

Members of the 17+1 cooperation mechanism include China, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Greece. 

The 2019 annual summit took place in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where Greece became a full participant in the cooperation mechanism. 

As the host of the 2020 summit, China hopes to upgrade win-win cooperation, open up new prospects of mutual benefit, and push for new development of China-Europe relations, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in December. 

China-CEEC collaboration is part of China-Europe cooperation and complementary to China's cooperation with the European Union, he noted.