Closer ties with China will boost prosperity in eastern Europe, says Chinese premier

China’s premier outlined his hope on Monday that his country’s closer cooperation with central and eastern Europe will help foster prosperity in the region.

At a summit of 16 countries in the Hungarian capital Budapest, Premier Li Keqiang said efforts such as China’s “New Silk Road” initiative to expand trade across Asia, Africa and Europe, should be a boon to the countries that were formally part of the communist bloc.

“Our aim is to see a prospering Europe,” he said, adding that the closer ties with the 16 countries, which includes 11 European Union members, would usefully complement EU-China relations.

China’s rapid economic growth has seen the country ratchet up its spending on the global stage and the “Silk Road” prospect is a key trade effort.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, host of the “16+1” summit, said the region was in need of external technological and financial resources, including from China, to grow.

“European resources are in themselves insufficient,” Orban said. “For this reason we welcome the fact that as part of the new economic world order, China sees this region as one in whose progress and development it wants to be present.”