On December 19, 2013, the first High-Level Symposium of Think Tanks of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC), jointly organized by the China-Central and Eastern Europe Cooperation Secretariat and the China Foundation for International Studies (CFIS), was held in Beijing, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi attended and addressed the opening ceremony of the Symposium. Present at the Symposium were Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming, CFIS Honorary Chairman Zhang Deguang, CFIS Executive Director Liu Guchang, and many former CEEC political heavyweights including former Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, former Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Haris Silajdžić, former Speaker of the Senate of Poland Longin Hieronim Pastusiak, President of the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly Vuk Jeremić. Over 200 people attended the Symposium including well-known scholars, business representatives and diplomats from China and the CEEC.

This Symposium is an important action to implement the results of the China-CEEC Leaders’ Meeting in Bucharest, and is also the largest high-level academic exchange so far between China and the CEEC.

The theme of the Symposium is “New Opportunities to the China-CEEC Relations” with three sub-forums: “Reassessing the China-CEEC Relations—Deeply Discussing Opportunities and Challenges in Bilateral Cooperation”, “Future-Oriented China-CEEC Cooperation—A New Platform for Pragmatic Cooperation” and “Role of People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges in Cooperation and How Think Tanks Can Play a Role”. The attendees engaged in heated discussions and shared opinions on the above topics, contributing suggestions to promoting China-CEEC cooperation.