On May 13, the High-Level Forum for Chinese and Czech Financial Institutions and Businesses co-organized by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Sino-CEEF Holding Company was held in Beijing. It was attended by Czech President Milos Zeman, Ji?í Rusnok, Governor of the Czech National Bank, Ji?í Havlí?ek, Minister of Industry and Trade of Czech Republic, Guo Shuqing, Chairman of China Banking Regulatory Commission, Yi Huiman, Chairman of ICBC, Jiang Jianqing, Chairman of Sino-CEEF Holding Company, Gu Shu, President of ICBC, and over 100 senior representatives of Chinese and Czech governments, banks and enterprises.

Located at the heart of Europe and adjacent to developed European economies, Czech boasts unique geo-advantage and strong industrial foundation. It is an important country along the Belt and Road. In recent years, economic and trade ties between China and Czech have shown a good momentum. China is Czech’s largest trade partner outside EU, while Czech is China’s largest trade partner in Central and Eastern Europe. Two-way investment has grown fast. In 2016, China’s new investment in Czech amounted to USD 1.1 billion, representing a YOY increase of 130%. At the forum, representatives of Chinese and Czech enterprises such as Home Credit B.V., J&T Finance Group SE, China General Nuclear Power Corporation and CEFC China Energy Company Limited delivered speeches and held in-depth discussion on strengthening advantageous industries, hi-tech industrial cooperation and financial cooperation and expanding infrastructure cooperation.

ICBC Chairman Yi Huiman said that Friendship between China and Czech could be dated back long time ago. The Belt and Road Initiative further underscores the geographical advantage of Czech. China-Central and Eastern Europe Fund has emerged in this context and. ICBC is approved to set up a branch in Prague, becoming the first non-EU bank obtaining branch license in Czech. For the next step, ICBC will continue to leverage the Group’s advantages, and work with other institutions such as China-Central and Eastern Europe Fund to provide comprehensive financial services for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. In key cooperation areas such as infrastructure, nuclear power, energy, telecom and industrial park, ICBC will step up cross-border financing support and raise service efficiency. In addition, ICBC will leverage its customer resource and information strength to connect China’s advantageous capacity with Czech’s demand for industrial system, promote Chinese enterprises’ investment in Czech, and help Czech enterprises to expand business in China.