BUDAPEST — Premier Li Keqiang and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met the press after talks held at the National Assembly building of Hungary, on Nov 28.

“My current visit is not only aimed at China-Hungary friendship, but also cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC),” said Premier Li.

The origin of the so-called 16+1 cooperation, namely cooperation between China and 16 CEE countries, could be traced back to the first China-CEEC Economic and Trade Forum held in Budapest six years ago, he said.

“Now that this cooperation mechanism has been running for five years, it is a perfect place and time to review the past and plan the future. The results in the past five years show that 16+1 cooperation benefits both sides as well as the world,” Premier Li said.

Premier Li said this trans-regional cooperation mechanism has shortened the psychological distance between peoples of both ends of the Eurasia continent and reduced development imbalance arising from the process of globalization.

It has contributed to the healthy development of globalization, the comprehensive development and integration of Europe, as well as regional stability and world peace, he said.

Premier Li said that China and Hungary are keeping sound economic growth, and development of both countries provide opportunities to each other.

China is willing to import more Hungarian products that are competitive on the market, and continue to regard Hungary as an important investment destination in CEE, to expand cooperation in areas such as tourism and education, and to improve people-to-people exchanges, he added.

Orban said the two sides have had talks in a good and pragmatic atmosphere and reached a series of important consensus on deepening bilateral cooperation.

Hungary and China enjoy solid ground for their relations and possess huge potential for cooperation, he said, expressing his hope that the current visit by the Chinese Premier would open up new prospects for bilateral ties.

Hungary is ready to seize the opportunities offered by China’s development, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China in all areas, he said.

Orban added his country will step up bilateral cooperation under the 16+1 cooperation framework in order to make contributions to regional and global development.