Expo unearths fresh trade opportunities with Central, Eastern Europe

The high-quality development of China's economy and its high-standard opening-up will bring broad new trade and investment opportunities for countries around the world, including Central and Eastern European countries, whose trade with the world's second-largest economy is on the increase.

China's economic growth will promote win-win cooperation and generate more achievements in fields like technological innovation, officials and entrepreneurs said.

"China encourages enterprises to invest in the CEEC in areas such as new energy vehicles, power batteries, photovoltaics, and wind power. We are also willing to deepen cooperation in emerging fields like artificial intelligence, empowering economic and trade cooperation through green and digital transformation," said Chinese State Councilor Shen Yiqin at the opening ceremony of the fourth China-CEEC Expo & International Consumer Goods Fair, which opened on Thursday in Ningbo.

The expo aims to highlight distinctive products from the CEEC, boost imports, and promote twoway investment, injecting new momentum into economic and trade ties.

The expo includes a digital and smart manufacturing section. Featured exhibits include Hungary's large-scale multisensory VR park, Slovenia's Pipistrel Aircraft and humanoid robots from China. Several leading Chinese tech companies, including Joyson Humanoid Robot from Ningbo; Unitree Robotics, DeepRobotics, and Rokid from Hangzhou set up booths at the section.

Maciej Pichor, general manager of Poland-based logistics company KMC-Services, expressed great interest in Unitree's robot dog after watching it bow and spin in a demonstration. "Robots will be much cheaper to do the same work. We're seeking contacts with Chinese companies interested in selling robots to Europe," he said.

Han Fuzhang, chief operations assistant of the Zhejiang Innovation Center for Humanoid Robotics, told China Daily that their main focus at the expo is showcasing robots in industrial applications, particularly in precision tasks such as screwing bolts on production lines. They also demonstrated robots used for livestream product marketing for CEEC goods, promoting bilateral trade.

As guest countries of honor, Slovenia and Slovakia brought representative technology companies to the expo as well. ABYA Genomics, an AI-powered bioinformatics platform for in silico analysis based in Slovakia, can use their tools to help researchers, academia and startups.

This year, Slovakia sent over 40 companies showcasing products spanning food and beverages, renewable energy, aviation technology, and academic collaborations. During the opening ceremony, Richard Rasi, chairman of the Slovak National Council, said: "It's a space for shared missions, a platform of trust, and launch pad for future cooperation. The format of collaboration between China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe holds tremendous potential, whether in interregional collectivity research support, intermodal transport or aero industrial innovation. I believe that our participation through our products, companies and culture representation will contribute to making Ningbo expo inspiring, not only from a professional point of view, but also a human one."

Meira Hot, vice-president of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, underscored her country's commitment to showcasing its strengths in the automobile industry and innovative technologies during the opening ceremony. She expressed hope that the expo would help unlock greater potential for cooperation in trade, green development and tourism between Slovenia and China.

Slovenian company DOMEL is a global supplier of electric drives and components based on its own innovative technologies. The company has a branch in Suzhou, Jiangsu province and a subsidiary in Serbia. At this year's expo, DOMEL is showcasing laboratory equipment and water quality testing products while seeking cooperation opportunities with Chinese companies, particularly in water testing.

At the opening ceremony, Wang Hao, Party secretary of Zhejiang, said: "We are willing to work with the CEEC to build new platforms for economic and trade exchanges, promote mutual benefit, and make full use of the expo to optimize cooperation mechanisms and innovate in areas like cross-border e-commerce, livestreaming sales, and cloud services. We encourage more private enterprises from Zhejiang to invest in Central and Eastern Europe and bring more high-quality end products to households across Zhejiang."

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, since 2012, trade between China and Central and Eastern European countries has grown at an average annual rate of 8.8 percent, while China's imports from the CEEC have increased by 7.4 percent annually — both outpacing the growth rate of China's overall foreign trade during the same period. In 2024, bilateral trade reached a record high of $142.3 billion, up 6.3 percent year-on-year. According to preliminary statistics, China's total investment in the CEEC has so far exceeded $24 billion.