Central and Eastern Europe to revive hopes

Golden opportunity

Li Kai, deputy director of the Northeast Revitalization Research Institute at Northeastern University, pointed out that it is the golden time for Liaoning to set up a China-CEEC center to promote regional stability and economic prosperity.

In addition to economic and trade cooperation, Liaoning has built a number of international transport corridors. Shenyang is the main international rail transportation base. Dalian and Yingkou are two major ports linking to CEEC members.

Liaoning's China-Europe Railway Express connects the province to three capitals: Warsaw in Poland, Prague in the Czech Republic and Bratislava in Slovakia. Last year, Yingkou Port transported 720,000 containers to Europe via the China-Europe Railway Express.

Dan Tarcea, deputy mayor of Cluj-Napoca in Romania suggested Liaoning and CEEC could also enhance cultural and educational cooperation to improve mutual understanding.

Universities in Liaoning have already cooperated with Germany and Poland on education. CEEC universities have also launched Confucius Institutes, whose stated aim is to promote Chinese language and culture, with the help of their Liaoning counterparts.

"China has great potential and is developing very fast. It has certainly opened up a lot of possibilities for me, both professionally and privately," said Johannes Karlinger, director of the Goethe Institute in Liaoning.

"Moving to China has worked out very well for me and I've even invited my family to come and visit me in China. They are all very excited to come."