Cui Li, vice-minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), attended the opening ceremony of the foreign exchange activity of the China-CEEC Hospital Cooperation Alliance in Beijing on April 23.

Cui said that central and eastern Europe are the key points for the Belt and Road Initiative.

In recent years, China and central and eastern European countries have had close cooperation in the health sector, which has become an important part of their cultural interactions, according to Cui.

The China-CEEC Hospital Cooperation Alliance has been in existence since June 2016, serving as a platform of cooperation and academic exchange for China-CEEC medical staff.

Cui said the NHFPC will further support the alliance's development and she expects that the NHFPC and the alliance will have an innovative cooperation pattern in the future.

Aimed at strengthening the cooperation of China-CEEC medical institutions, the alliance was co-launched by the Chinese Hospital Association and some hospitals from China and central and eastern Europe.