Chinese premier to attend trade-boosting European summit BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend a China-Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries summit next week to upgrade economic ties, as China has pledged to increase imports from those states. The summit, to be held in Romania's Bucharest, will see Li attend the gathering for the first time as premier, having taken office in March, Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao told a briefing here on Friday. Cooperation between China and CEE countries "conforms with each side's respective development features and needs for cooperation," Song said, describing such cooperation as reciprocal and win-win. Song said trade between China and the 16 CEE countries amounted to 45.4 billion U.S. dollars between the start of January and the end of October in 2013, and that this is a key period to secure further growth in the cooperation. During the summit, Li will attend a "1+16" round table meeting, an economic and trade forum, deliver speeches and meet with other state leaders. Those leaders will explore cooperation possibilities in such industries as power, rail, agriculture, cement and construction materials, according to Song. Zhang Xiangchen, assistant minister of commerce, said China's economic and trade ties with the CEE countries are part of those with the European Union, as the latter has grouped most of Europe's nations. According to Zhang, those countries expect China to engage in their transport and energy infrastructure construction and increase investment, and they hope to export more products to the Asian country. Currently, Chinese companies' investment in CEE countries has exceeded 3.5 billion U.S. dollars, and investment in the opposite direction has topped 1.1 billion U.S. dollars, Zhang said. "The government encourages Chinese companies to invest in CEE countries and will take measures to expand imports from those states," added the assistant minister. Li addressed the closing ceremony of Thursday's 2013 China-EU Urbanization Partnership Forum, saying that the country will respect and protect the rights of rural people, and strive for sustainable urbanization.Full story