CHINA-EUROPE/LI Chinese premier continues meetings with leaders from eastern Europe

Record ID: 125939

  • Title: CHINA-EUROPE/LI Chinese premier continues meetings with leaders from eastern Europe
  • Date: 26th November 2015
  • Summary: ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** MEETING IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF LI SPEAKING VARIOUS OF VUCIC SPEAKING LI LISTENING MEETING IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF LI AND VUCIC STANDING VARIOUS OF SIGNING CEREMONY DELEGATES VARIOUS OF LI AND VUCIC TALKING TO OFFICIALS
  • Embargoed: 11th December 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADCLEBHUR6RCYSMML9FNSTB7VX
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with leaders from Montenegro and Latvia, and received Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic with military honours in Beijing on Thursday (November 26).
    All three leaders were in attendance at Tuesday's (November 24) Fourth Summit of China and Central and Eastern European countries in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou.
    Li said on Tuesday that China was exploring the possibility of setting up a multilateral financial institution with central and eastern European countries, as well as a joint fund that would be denominated in Chinese yuan.
    China's investments in the region have so far been mostly in infrastructure and energy projects carried out by Chinese companies that are financed using loans issued by Chinese state-owned banks.
    On Wednesday (November 25) China Railway Group (CRG) announced it will lead a consortium awarded a 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) contract to build the Hungarian section of a railway linking Budapest with Serbia's Belgrade, in China's first high-speed rail win in the European Union.
    Three firms - CRG's China Railway International Group, a subsidiary of national operator China Railway Corporation and the Hungarian State Railways - will form a consortium to construct the 160 kilometre route, CRG said in a statement.
    The railway, which will be 350 kilometres long with the Serbian portion, will be completed in two years and will be able to accommodate trains travelling up to 200 kilometres per hour, it said. The Chinese firms will account for 85 percent of the consortium, it said, without providing further details.
    China, Hungary and Serbia first agreed in 2013 to cooperate on a railway between the two European countries. On Tuesday, China signed financing and construction deals with the two countries on the sidelines of a summit but did not provide details.
    In 2014, the trade volume between China and CEE countries reached $60.2 billion, up from $43.9 four years ago.
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