A delegation led by Che Jun, Party chief of East China's Zhejiang province, visited the Czech Republic from May 23 to 26 in a bid to deepen bilateral exchange and cooperation with the Central European country, and to demonstrate the province's active role in promoting China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Che met with Czech President Milos Zeman and a group of Czech officials from the fields of culture, commerce and tourism, expressing his excitement about forging closer ties with the country.

The Party chief said that 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the Czech Republic, and Zhejiang is willing to work together with the country to bring about more mutual benefits. He exchanged ideas with Czech attendees on how to best exploit energy resources and the Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe train service.

Czech officials also extended a warm welcome to people and enterprises from Zhejiang to visit and invest in their country.

During the delegation's four-day stay in the Czech Republic, China Jiliang University, a key university in Zhejiang dedicated to quality supervision, inspection and quarantine, and the University of Finance and Administration, a Czech business school, announced the founding of a joint culture center and research institute in Prague, which is designed to serve as a platform for mutual understanding.

The Zhejiang delegation had a seminar on economic and technological cooperation with Czech officials and business representatives on May 23. Che said there is still plenty of room for further cooperation, as Zhejiang and the Czech Republic have a lot in common, particularly when it comes to auto manufacturing and basic industries.

At the seminar, the two sides signed cooperation agreements on 22 projects in the fields of modern logistics, smart cities, energy development and cross-border e-commerce with a contract value of $380 million.

The delegation from East China visited a Zhejiang-backed logistics park in Prague on May 25. Since the project started operations in September 2018, it has evolved into a symbol of Zhejiang's participation in BRI development.

Che talked with Chinese people during the visit to the Czech Republic as well, encouraging them to act as go-betweens for Sino-Czech relations.

（News from Zhejiang, China）