ROTTERDAM - Over 100 enterprises and governmental agencies from China and the Netherlands joined an economic cooperation forum in Rotterdam Friday to share insights and explore new opportunities.

"Free trade in the world leads to more wealth and stability. That's why we like the way the Chinese in the international arena working for enhancing peace and stability, and our country is also working on the same themes," Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb said at the forum.

"We are both traders. China is a huge market and the Chinese are very innovative. The Netherlands also has a lot to offer when it comes to health care, food technology, sustainable energy and so on," said the mayor. "It is really important that we maintain our relations good."

The Port of Rotterdam is one of the starting points and destinations of the Euroasia shipping route and the China-Europe rail freight. It is the place where the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road meet, having a unique geographical advantage in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Desire for cooperation in especially the construction of Belt and Road Initiative has been expressed by Chinese and Dutch leaders on many occasions, said Wu Ken, Chinese Ambassador to the Netherlands.

Wu expected that the depth and breadth of pragmatic cooperation between China and the Netherlands will be brought to a new level in the new era, with the Netherlands becoming a "clipper" in jointly building the initiative by China and the EU.

"China will take many major measures in terms of broaden market access, improving the investment environment, protecting intellectual property rights, and actively expanding imports," said the ambassador.

"I hope that people with insight in China and the Netherlands, especially the outstanding entrepreneurs of the two countries, can actively implement the concept of open and win-win cooperation and make economic globalisation more open, inclusive, balanced, and beneficial to all," he concluded.

Currently, China is the second largest trading partner of the Netherlands outside the EU, and the Netherlands is China's third largest trading partner among the EU countries.

According to statistics from China Customs, the bilateral trade volume between China and the Netherlands in 2017 reached $78.6 billion, a record high.

The Netherlands is the world's eighth-biggest investor in China. Over a thousand Dutch companies operate in China, at around 1,500 sites, showed statistics from the Dutch government.