By LI Linxu & LIANG Yilian

With the successful state visits of Chinese President Xi Jinping to France, Serbia and Hungary, a series of important agreements, ranging from economic, sci-tech cooperation to people-to-people, cultural exchanges, were reached, opening a new chapter in China-Europe cooperation.

Ushering in a new era in China-France cooperation

During his visit to France, Xi underscored the importance of bolstering cooperative ties between China and France as well as the European Union, particularly amid worldwide changes of a scale unseen in a century.

The two countries reached an array of consensuses on bilateral and multilateral cooperation, showcasing the potential and prospects of China-France cooperation.

They issued four joint statements on areas such as AI and global governance, biodiversity and oceans cooperation, and agricultural exchanges and cooperation. Close to 20 bilateral cooperation documents were signed in such fields as green development, aviation, commerce and people-to-people exchanges.

The two sides should enhance the docking of development strategies, deepen cooperation in traditional areas such as aerospace and aviation, strengthen cooperation in nuclear energy, innovation and finance, and expand cooperation in emerging areas such as green energy, smart manufacturing, and AI, Xi said.

They pledged to take effective measures to strengthen global governance of AI to promote development and use of AI for the common good.

China also looks forward to hosting more than 10,000 French students in the next three years and doubling the number of European youth exchanges in China, Xi said.

Building a China-Serbia community with a shared future

During Xi's visit, China and Serbia have decided to build a community with a shared future in the new era, making Serbia the first European country to build such a community with China.

The two sides agreed to jointly develop new quality productive forces in light of local conditions and build high-tech industrial cooperation projects, according to a joint statement between the two countries.

The Zemun-Borca Bridge in Serbia, a bridge project constructed by a Chinese company in Europe. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

They also agreed to deepen cooperation in space science and technology, and China welcomes Serbia's participation in the International Lunar Research Station.

Both sides believe that deepening sci-tech cooperation holds great significance, vowing to push for more practical results from youth scientist exchanges, poverty alleviation via sci-tech, joint researches, and co-building research platforms.

In the next three years, China will support 50 young Serbian scientists to carry out research exchange visits to China. This is one of the six measures announced by Xi to support the building of a China-Serbia community with a shared future.

Embarking on a golden voyage in China-Hungary relations

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 75 years ago, China and Hungary have remained good partners for win-win cooperation.

In recent years, the two sides have seen frequent high-level exchanges, deepening mutual trust, fruitful outcomes in Belt and Road cooperation, and vibrant people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

Today, Hungary is China's top investment destination as well as its important trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe.

China will work with Hungary to forge greater synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Hungary's Eastern Opening strategy, and accelerate the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway link and other significant cooperation projects, according to Xi's signed article.

"We will strengthen cooperation with Hungary in clean energy, AI, digital economy, green development, and other emerging areas, foster new quality productive forces, and serve our respective high-quality development," Xi said.

China is willing to expand exchanges and cooperation with Hungary in education, culture, tourism, sport, youth, the media and at the subnational level, Xi said, calling for writing new stories of friendship for the two peoples.