BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) - Premier Li Keqiang held a welcome ceremony at the square outside the East Gate of the Great Hall of the People for Prime Minister Charles of Belgium who was on an official visit to China.
On October 31, under the joint witness of Premier Li Keqiang and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, COSCO Shipping Group and Belgium DEME Group (Dredging Environmental & Marine Engineering NV, hereinafter referred to as DEME Group) signed strategic cooperation framework in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.Wan Min, general manager and the Director of the Board of COSCO shipping, and Luc Bertrand, chairman of DEME Group signed the agreement on behalf of both parties.
According to the Strategic Cooperation Framework, the two sides will seek strategic cooperation in the field of offshore wind power, dredging and construction, shipbuilding and logistics market, exploring business opportunities based on the principle of mutual benefit and complementarity. DEME Group is the world's leading offshore engineering, dredging and environmental engineering contractor. In addition to its core dredging business, it also engages in a variety of other businesses, including reclamation, port construction, offshore wind power installation, oil and gas industry and environmental engineering services, etc. It has more than 70 subsidiaries and partners, and also customers in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Africa, Latin America and India.The signing of the agreement marks the strong combination of both parties and deepens the mutual cooperation into a new stage.
On the same day, under the witness of leaders from both countries, COSCO Shipping also signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Port of Zeebrugge and China Minmetals Cooperation.The three parties co-sponsored the “Silk Road” operating center to jointly promote the Belgian Zeebrugge FTA “Silk Road” service platform and Exhibition Center project.Wan Min, General Manager and the Director of the Board of COSCO shipping, and Guo Wenqing, General Manager of China Minmetals Cooperation, together with Joachim Coens, Chairman of the Belgian Zeebrugge port signed the memorandum of cooperation.
According to the memorandum of cooperation, Zeebrugge port will offer a series of preferential and flexible policies to jointly build the Zeebrugge FTA “Silk Road” operating center with COSCO Shipping and China Minmetals Cooperation. It provides customers around the world, especially China’s export enterprises, with a combination of free trade, overseas bonded warehouse, international trade and display, e-commerce, international finance and accounting and the leading integrated services for cross-border trade, so as to provide favorable conditions for promoting Sino-EU trade.