The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CCIR) and the Shanghai International Chamber of Commerce (CCPIT) signed a new Memorandum of Understanding on Monday, renewing the institutional partnership between the two organisations exactly three decades after their first cooperation agreement, signed in June 1996.

According to a press release sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday, the new memorandum aims to deepen cooperation in trade and investment, organise international exhibitions and facilitate commercial arbitration, while identifying new opportunities for collaboration between Romanian companies and businesses from the Shanghai region.

'Romania already has a longstanding economic partnership with China, with bilateral trade amounting to approximately 10.8 billion US dollars, while more than 14,800 companies with Chinese capital are currently registered with Romania's Trade Register. All of these firms are Romanian legal entities with full access to the European Single Market and are the best ambassadors of economic cooperation between our two countries because they understand both Romanian and Chinese legislation,' said CCIR President Mihai Daraban.

He added that the CCIR will continue to support and facilitate Chinese investment in Romania.

'We are connected to Shanghai by a maritime route of 25 days' sailing time to the Port of Constanta, a strategic link that we intend to make much better use of in the years ahead,' the CCIR President added.

In turn, Gu Chunting, Vice-President of CCPIT Shanghai, said that the economic partnership between China and Romania has consistently demonstrated its effectiveness through tangible results.

'Romania represents an important strategic point for China's cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe and the economies of the two sides are complementary and enjoy distinct advantages, providing excellent prospects for cooperation. We are convinced that as exchanges between the business communities of the two countries deepen, more and more concrete results will emerge, giving fresh momentum to the development of Sino-Romanian relations,' Gu Chunting said.

Also present at the signing ceremony, Chen Feng, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Romania, highlighted the deep traditional friendship between Romania and China.

'Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1949, the two countries have always treated each other with mutual respect and on an equal footing. In 2004, we established a Comprehensive Partnership of Friendship and Cooperation, laying a solid foundation for the development of bilateral relations. Our areas of cooperation have expanded into green energy, the digital economy, information and communications technology and, more recently, we have reached important agreements regarding trade in agri-food products and cooperation in inspection and quarantine. The renewal of this memorandum between CCIR and CCPIT Shanghai confirms that mutual benefit remains the right direction for the development of Sino-Romanian relations,' the ambassador said. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Cristian Anghelache; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)