Slated for June 8 to 11, the second China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Expo will be held in Ningbo City, east China's Zhejiang Province, said the organizers.

Co-organized by the Ministry of Commerce and Zhejiang provincial government, the event is designed to explore more opportunities to boost trade in consumer goods and services with Central and Eastern European countries.

The expo will set up three exhibition areas: the CEEC exhibition, the international consumer goods exhibition, and the permanent exhibition of imported commodities, with a total area of 200,000 square meters, according to Zhu Congjiu, vice-governor of Zhejiang Province. 

"Over 6,000 buyers and more than 2,000 exhibitors are expected to participate," Zhu said.

According to statistics, the accumulated scale of the two-way investment between China and CEE countries is nearly $20 billion, with fields like low-carbon economy, medicine and health, and new energy becoming new investment hotspots during the pandemic, said Ren Hongbin, assistant minister of commerce.

"From 2012 to 2020, the average annual growth rate of trade between China and 17 CEE countries reached 8 percent, more than twice the growth rate of trade between China and the EU," Ren said.

More than 70 percent of trade between China and CEE countries are mechanical and electrical products, with a gradually smaller proportion of textiles and garments in exports to CEE countries, he added.

"We will deepen industrial cooperation and give full play to the respective industrial advantages of Ningbo and CEE countries, such as new materials and high-end equipment industries in Ningbo, as well as hydrogen energy and lithium power batteries industries in CEE countries," said Qiu Dongyao, mayor of Ningbo.

Since the first China-Europe freight train left southwest China's Chongqing Municipality in March 2011, China has launched the service in over 60 cities domestically and connecting them with major European countries.

When the COVID-19 pandemic impeded sea and air transport, the freight train service emerged as a reliable choice in international logistics thanks to its safety, stability and efficiency.

The trains made 12,400 trips last year, up 50 percent year on year, covering 92 cities in 21 European countries at present.

A new route connecting east China's Jinhua City to Hungary's capital Budapest, branded as a part of the YXE China Railway Express, will also be launched during the expo, Zhu said.