The leaders' summit of China and 17 Central and Eastern European Countries, or CEEC, to be held in Beijing next year is expected to take their relationship to a new high, according to Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Wang made the remarks on Saturday in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, at a joint news conference with Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Miro Cerar. It was the first visit to Slovenia by a Chinese foreign minister since 2008.

Wang said that 17+1, a cross-region platform built eight years ago on a shared vision, had already set up cooperation mechanisms in some 20 areas, with each reaping an early harvest and achieving important results.

He said the leaders' summit to be held in China in the first half of 2020 showed the great importance China attached to the 17+1 platform as well as the hope of the 17 CEEC nations to elevate the cooperation.

The summit will focus on "connectivity, green innovation, openness and win-win", themes that conform to today's global trends, the development goals of European nations and China's international cooperation, according to the top Chinese diplomat.

Wang added that the 17+1 platform is a part of China-Europe cooperation and a useful supplement to China-EU cooperation. He also emphasized that it was voluntary cooperation based on mutual needs and had no intention of reinventing the wheel or splitting Europe.

Wang said he believed that 17+1 cooperation would help promote the development of Central and Eastern European Countries and European integration.

He further said that 17+1 cooperation focused on the concepts of being open, inclusive and transparent, had adopted commonly accepted international rules, was in line with market principles and European Union standards and respected the consensus of all parties. The EU and all other interested parties have also been invited to observe every meeting under the framework.

Wang also said that 17+1 cooperation had entered a period of upgrading, and he hoped that the Beijing summit next year could find more synergy with the Belt and Road Initiative; the EU-Asia Connectivity strategy; the Three Seas Initiative (Baltic, Adriatic Black Sea Initiative) and the development strategies of central and eastern European nations.

New areas

Besides, Wang said, the 17+1 platform should explore cooperation in new areas such as digital economy, artificial intelligence, fintech, life sciences, ecology and the environment in order to achieve high quality development of the cooperation.

He hoped that the 17+1 platform could help safeguard multilateralism, promote free trade, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between China and EU and jointly build an open global economy.

Finally, Wang said that Slovenia had been an active participant and important contributor to 17+1 cooperation and hoped that it would make more contributions to the Beijing summit next year.

During his visit to Slovenia, Wang also met Slovenian President Borut Pahor, Prime Minister Marjan Sarec and National Assembly Speaker Dejan Zidan.

Pahor spoke highly of China's stance that all countries, big or small, are equals. And he praised China's support for multilateralism and mutually beneficial state-to-state relations, saying that it was wrong to see China's development as a threat.