On November 3, Ling Ji, Vice Minister and Deputy China International Trade Representative of Commerce, and Marian Piecha, Director General of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, co-chaired the 12th meeting of the China-Czech Joint Ministerial Economic Committee in Beijing. Czech Ambassador to China Martin Tomco attended the meeting.

Ling said that over the past 75 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the Czech Republic, pragmatic and friendly cooperation has always been the mainstream of bilateral relations. China is willing to strengthen cooperation with the Czech Republic in such fields as trade, investment, logistics and transportation, new energy and tourism, and import more high-tech products, equipment and specialty goods. Czech enterprises are welcome to participate in the China International Import Expo, the China-CEEC Expo and other exhibitions to promote Czech quality products. Enterprises of the two countries are encouraged to expand two-way investment.

Ling pointed out that the European Commission recently decided to impose definitive countervailing duties on electric vehicles imported from China despite the request of the Chinese and European businesses. China does not recognize or accept the final ruling. The Czech Republic is an important automobile producer in Europe. It is hoped that the Czech Republic can play an active role in urging the EU side to demonstrate political will and sincerity in the consultations.

Piecha said that the Czech Republic advocates free trade and opposes protectionism. China is the Czech Republic’s second largest trading partner in the world. The Czech Republic attaches great importance to advancing economic and trade cooperation with China and is willing to carry out cooperation with China in new energy vehicles, deepen cooperation in machinery and agricultural and food products, expand cooperation in green, low-carbon, artificial intelligence and other emerging industries, so as to jointly promote the sound and steady development of bilateral economic and trade relations.