Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province has seen closer economic and trade ties with Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) in recent years.

In 2020, imports and exports between Ningbo and CEEC totaled 29.52 billion yuan ($4.54 billion), a yearly uptick of 3.7 percent and 1.5 percentage points faster than the provincial average.

Specifically, the city's exports to CEEC stood at 25.75 billion yuan, up 3.3 percent year-on-year, while imports expanded 6.3 percent year-on-year to 3.76 billion yuan, accounting for more than half of the province’s total.

Last year, five new two-way investment projects were agreed upon. The two-way investment had amounted to $560 million by the year-end, official data show.

Ningbo has hosted a number of China-CEEC cooperation events, including the China-CEEC Expo, which has been held four times, and three editions of the China-CEEC Ministerial Meeting on Promoting Trade and Economic Cooperation.

The Ningbo-Jinhua Railway, which is currently under construction, is expected to inject a new impetus into the city's trade links with CEEC. When completed, goods from CEEC could be shipped to Ningbo by both rail and sea and vice versa.

Ningbo aims to build itself into a demonstration zone for economic and trade cooperation between China and CEEC.

According to an action plan unveiled by local authorities, the city aims to increase its trade volume with CEEC to $10 billion by 2025, accounting for 6 percent of the nation's total. It is also planning to bring in 100 advanced projects in manufacturing and emerging industries from CEEC, with a total investment of over 20 billion yuan, and recruit 10,000 skilled workers from the region by that time.