China, Estonia vow more infrastructure, tourism cooperation

SUZHOU, Jiangsu - China and Estonia on Tuesday vowed to deepen their cooperation in areas including infrastructure construction, information technology and tourism.

The pledge came out of a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and visiting Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas ahead of the fourth leaders' meeting between China and the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries in Suzhou of East China's Jiangsu province.

Calling Estonia an important partner for China in the Baltic Sea area, Li said China was ready to strengthen political, economic and cultural cooperation with Estonia on the basis of mutual respect, equity and reciprocity, to improve bilateral ties.

He called on Estonia to capitalize on its advantageous location to take a major role in China-Europe railways designed to improve communications and logistics between the two sides.

According to Li, China is excited to work with Estonia to build railways and ports in the Baltic Sea area.

Roivas said relations with China are important to Estonia, which welcomes Chinese investment and is ready to be a hub for communication between Europe and China.

He said Estonia hoped to cooperate more with China in information technology, agriculture and animal husbandry, and tourism.

The fourth China-CEE leaders' meeting is scheduled to open on Tuesday afternoon. It will be the first time China has hosted the annual summit since its initiation in 2012.