The sixth Local Leaders' Meeting of China and Central and Eastern European Countries started in Yantai, east China's Shandong Province, on Wednesday.
Li Hongzhong, vice chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, attended and addressed the opening ceremony.
Li, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that since the establishment of the cooperation mechanism between China and Central and Eastern European Countries 12 years ago, the parties have jointly promoted the continuous development of the mechanism, achieved positive results, and set a model for trans-regional cooperation in the context of globalization.
Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries has not only put relevant practical cooperation on the fast track, but also injected more positive energy into the development of China-Europe relations, Li noted.
He called on the parties to synergize their development strategies, improve the mechanism of sub-national cooperation, and strengthen exchanges and mutual learning on governance to make local level cooperation more fruitful.
Nearly 1,000 people from China and Central and Eastern European countries attended the forum. They discussed the results of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries, shared typical experiences and important outcomes of promoting subnational exchanges and proposed initiatives for future cooperation.
The three-day event features a series of forums on industry-education integrated development and enterprise cooperation, where representatives of universities, enterprises and associations will carry out exchanges and negotiations for cooperation intentions.
Meanwhile, a photography exhibition and a commodity fair for Central and Eastern European countries and an exhibition of traditional Chinese medicine will also be held to showcase the local customs and culture of Central and Eastern European countries, and enhance mutual understanding.
The cooperation mechanism for China and Central and Eastern European Countries was established in 2012, as a cross-regional cooperation platform based on traditional friendship and deepening exchanges in sectors such as economics and trade, culture, education, youth, agriculture, tourism, science and technology.
Sixth China-Central and Eastern European Countries Local Leaders' Meeting opens in China's Shandong
The China-Europe Talent Forum 2024 was held in Beijing on Tuesday to explore the key roles of talents in the development of China-Europe relations and further deepen bilateral exchanges and cooperation in relevant fields.
Themed "Sharing Together, Growing Together, Winning Together - Bridging Continents: Fostering Future-fit Talent Development," the forum gathered more than 240 attendees including Chinese and foreign dignitaries, renowned scholars, representatives of international organizations, Nobel laureates, academicians and experts.
Featuring keynote speeches, symposiums and summit dialogues, the event discussed topics covering science and technology, talents, culture, economy and trade, as well as international sports, aiming to further promote practical cooperation in the field of human resources between China and Europe.
"I think the development in China, the development of everything, especially in talent, is very big in the last years. We need to link each other to get more relationship between Europe and China because we have to share the talent. We have to get more relationship between Europe and China in products, in services, and especially in talent, in knowledge, in future, in intelligence," said Antonio Miguel Carmona, president of the Spanish Friends of China Association.
The forum saw the release of the Global Workforce of the Future 2024, Global City Talent Retention Index 2024 and other talent research results, providing important reference and frontier analysis of talent-related issues.
Beijing, as an international hub for exchanges and sci-tech innovation, has vowed to keep optimizing policies and services to provide a better stage for global talents to develop themselves.
"We will implement more proactive, open and effective talent policies, so that Beijing, as an international metropolis, can attract and gather more internationalized talents, and also to foster more internationalized talents. We hope that Beijing will become an important talent center in the world, and we will make unremitting efforts to this end," said Zhang Tianyang, executive dean of the Beijing Institute of Talent Development Strategy.
The forum catalyzed a number of China-Europe talent exchange and cooperation projects, including the signing of a memorandum of understanding in support of the establishment of World Science and Technology Organization in Beijing, the establishment of an internship base between the Peking University of China and Switzerland's Adecco Group, as well as the setup of a China-Europe talent innovation and entrepreneurship center.
"We have reached a lot of cooperation intentions with the European side on the integrated development of education, technology and talents. Through the cooperation in talents and closer people-to-people connections, I believe that all undertakings will achieve a better and win-win development situation," Zhang said.
"The challenges that we have on both sides are really very, very similar. In Europe and in China, we have an aging population. In Europe and in China, we have more and more IT, namely AI, which is shaping work/life in China and in Europe. What we propose is that we make it more easier for researchers, but also for young professionals, and even students in some cases, to share experiences and go to the other country," said the Swiss Ambassador to China Jurg Burri.
Since 2018, the China-Europe Talent Forum has been successfully held for five sessions and has gradually developed into an important platform for talent exchange and cooperation between the two sides.
China-Europe Talent Forum 2024 held in Beijing
