Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) has bucked the trend amid the coronavirus pandemic, with fruitful results in trade, investment, infrastructure and other areas.

In 2020, China's total trade volume with 17 CEECs rose by 8.4 percent year on year to $103.45 billion, crossing the $100 billion mark for the first time, data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) shows.

Since the establishment of the cooperation mechanism between China and the CEECs in 2012, China's trade with 17 CEECs has grown at an average annual rate of 8 percent, more than three times the growth rate of China's foreign trade, and over twice the growth rate of China's trade with the EU, Gao Feng, spokesperson for the MOFCOM said on February 4.

Gao also said that the CEECs have actively participated in the China International Import Expo and their high-quality products are popular among Chinese consumers.

China's foreign direct investment in the 17 CEECs also keeps expanding. By the end of 2020, China invested $3.14 billion in industries in these countries, covering energy, minerals, infrastructure, logistics, auto parts and other fields. The 17 countries invested $1.72 billion in China during the same period, Gao said.

Meanwhile, interconnectivity between China and the CEECs continues to improve. The number of China-Europe freight trains reached 12,400 in 2020, with key passages and destinations including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

The total contract value of China's newly signed overseas projects with the 17 countries surged by 34.6 percent year on year to $5.41 billion in 2020, Gao said.

In addition, cooperation on the provincial level is deepening. Ningbo in east China's Zhejiang Province actively promotes the establishment of an economic and trade cooperation demonstration zone. Cangzhou in north China's Hebei Province has established a cooperation zone for small and medium-sized companies from China and the CEECs, Gao said.

The 17 CEECs include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Greece.

The eighth summit between China and the CEECs took place in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in 2019. The ninth annual summit, originally scheduled for the first half of 2020 in China, was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.