The inaugural China-CEEC Think Tank Forum on Innovation Cooperation is held in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province on Dec 15. [Photo/Ningbo Evening News]

The inaugural China-CEEC Think Tank Forum on Innovation Cooperation commenced in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province on Dec 15.

About 300 people, including diplomats, officials, scholars, and talents from China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), attended the forum, which serves as an integral part of the sixth China-CEEC Innovation Cooperation Conference.

A bevy of scholars, including Feng Zhongping, head of the Institute of European Studies at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Frane Šesnić, director of Zagreb Innovation Center in Croatia, and Fei Xiaochen, director of the China-CEEC Innovation Cooperation Research Center, shared their in-depth insights into ways to facilitate China-CEEC cooperation in scientific innovation. 

Ties between Ningbo and the CEEC have been getting stronger in recent years. The city’s trade volume with the CEEC was valued at 39.27 billion yuan ($6.04 billion) in 2021, rising by 40.4 percent year-on-year and accounting for 4.55 percent of China's total in the past year.

Specifically, the city's imports from the CEEC surged a whopping 146.2 percent year-on-year to 7.68 billion yuan in 2021, making up 3.48 percent of the nation's total.