Budapest, Nov 27 (CTK special correspondent) – The Czech and Chinese foreign ministers are to assess the development of both countries’ strategic partnership in the first half of 2018, Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka told reporters after a short meeting with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang on Monday.
Sobotka invited Li Keqiang to Prague in 2019, on the occasion of the 70-year anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between their countries.
Sobotka and Li Keqiang met during the summit of China and 16 Central and East European countries held in Budapest on
Monday.
“We agreed that our relations had been successfully strengthened. Along with Japan and Korea, China ranks among our main partners in the Asian region,” Sobotka told reporters after his ten-minute talks with Li Keqiang.
The PMs expect the Czech and Chinese foreign ministers to meet in the first half of next year to assess how the strategic partnership between the Czech Republic and China is developing and “to agree on its content and steps to take,” Sobotka said.
He added that he would consider the year 2019 an ideal opportunity for Li Keqiang to visit Prague. He said he had invited the Chinese PM long beforehand to enable him to include a visit to the Czech Republic into his long-term schedule.
Besides, both prime ministers discussed other issues important for bilateral relations, mainly tourism, air connection and investments, Sobotka said.
“We also talked about the exports of our food products to China,” he added.
Sobotka also mentioned the necessity to overcome the certifications and approval mechanisms preventing Czech products’ access to the Chinese market.
Sobotka talked to Li Keqiang in Beijing last June and in Riga a year ago, on the occasion of the 16+1 summit as well. Their meeting also lasted some ten minutes then. It was fairly short on Monday since Li Keqiang was trying to meet a major part of other summit participants.
