Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's upcoming trip to Romania and Uzbekistan is expected to explore new areas of practical cooperation with relevant countries and promote common development.

During his November 25-29 trip, Li will pay an official visit to Romania and attend a China-Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) leaders' meeting in the capital city of Bucharest. He will also be present at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) prime ministers' meeting in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent.

Building win-win China-CEE relations

At the summit with leaders of 16 CEE countries, Li will elaborate on China's position on relations with these nations and announce important cooperation measures. He will also hold separate meetings with them.

The 16 countries are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. Eleven of them are members of the European Union (EU).

The similarity and complementarity between the economies of China and CEE countries have created favorable conditions for mutually beneficial cooperation.

Like China, most CEE countries are at a phase of transformation to the market economy.

Besides, these countries have strong demands for economic restructuring and infrastructure upgrading, while China has advantages in equipment manufacturing and infrastructure construction.

"Currently, Central and Eastern European countries urgently need expanding investment to promote economic growth, and China has advantages in capital and technology. This has become a rallying point for bilateral cooperation," said Ruan Zongze, vice president of the China Institute of International Studies.

China-CEE cooperation also can create investment and trade opportunities for Chinese companies, Ruan said.

In recent years, the two sides have formed a mechanism for cooperation. China has set up a secretariat for bilateral cooperation while CEE countries each has designated a counterpart department or a national coordinator to work with the secretariat.

China is implementing its plan to set up a special credit line of 10 billion US dollars with a certain proportion of concessional loans that will be used in bilateral cooperation projects mainly in infrastructure, high technology and green economy.

The two sides have made progress in trade and investment since the first China-CEE business forum was held in Budapest, Hungary, in June 2011.

Ruan said expanding China-CEE cooperation will also help improve China-Europe cooperation and foster a more comprehensive and balanced development of China-Europe relations.

New momentum to friendship, new engine to practical cooperation

During Li's stay in Romania, he will meet top leaders of the country and give a speech at the parliament.

Analysts believe that the visit, the first by a Chinese premier in nearly 20 years, would inject new impetus to the two countries' traditional friendship and practical cooperation.

Feng Zhongping, vice president of the Chinese Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said Romania has adopted a balanced policy when developing its foreign relations -- attaching importance to relations both with Western countries and with China.

Romania is eager to intensify economic cooperation with other countries, especially China, Feng said. The sound political relations between the two countries have laid a solid foundation for practical cooperation.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said earlier this year that China's development could benefit the world, and his country was willing to be China's best partner in Europe and play a positive role in promoting China-CEE cooperation and China-EU relations.

Located in the northeast of the Balkan Peninsula, Romania is the eastern gate to the EU. The practical cooperation between China and Romania helps to promote cooperation between China and Europe.

Feng said developing China-Romania relations will help supplement China-Europe and China-CEE relations and will certainly promote the development of the CEE and Europe as a whole.

Enhancing practical cooperation within SCO

At the SCO prime ministers' meeting on November 29, Li will meet with prime ministers of other SCO member states and sign a series of documents to further implement the consensus on practical cooperation reached at the SCO summit in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek earlier this year.

Experts predicted that the upcoming meeting will achieve greater progress in implementing signed agreements within the organization and enhancing practical cooperation among member states.

The progress will boost economic development and integration in the region and lay a solid foundation for safeguarding regional stability, experts said.

Gao Yusheng, China's former ambassador to Uzbekistan, said there are mainly two tasks for the meeting: one is to implement the Bishkek consensus, and the other is to promote projects aimed to improve interconnectivity in transport, energy and telecommunications.

The SCO has entered into the second decade since its founding in 2001. Over the past 12 years, it has become a strategic pillar for the region to maintain security and develop economy as a whole, said Chen Yurong, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.

The organization has made great achievements in confronting terrorism, separatism and extremism as well as fighting smuggling and cross-border crimes.

Moreover, exchanges and cooperation within the SCO have facilitated trade and investment among member states, boosted development in energy and transport infrastructure, and improved understanding and friendship among peoples.

"The first decade of the SCO can be considered as a start-up period, and in the second decade, the organization should mainly seek practical development," she said.