VIENNA, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Austria's upcoming high-level visit to China will strength bilateral ties since the potential of cooperation between the two countries is still big, especially under the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese Ambassador to Austria Li Xiaosi told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Austria's President Alexander Van der Bellen and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, jointly with four ministers, will visit China this month, the first of such high visits paid by Australian officials since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Austria 47 years ago.
During the visit, the Austrian delegation will visit Beijing, Chengdu and Hainan Province.
Li believes that the visit will be an important opportunity for deepening bilateral relations.
Relevant departments and companies are expected to sign a number of cooperation documents to promote cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, logistics and so on, Li said.
The Austrian government has showed interest in joining the Belt and Road Initiative, "I believe that under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, there is great potential to cooperate between both sides," he said.
China Railway Express has been running between China and Europe, however, no train has yet to arrive in Austria, Li said, adding that China-Europe land-sea express route is also expecting a breakthrough in cooperation with Austria.
China has proposed to do a feasibility study of extending the express route to Austria, Li said.
While within the framework of cooperation between China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), also known as the 16+1 cooperation, Austria, as an observer, could engage in the cooperation with China, as Austria geographically belongs to central Europe and has traditional close connections with the central European countries, Li said.
The Chinese ambassador expected that Austria, which will take over the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) in the second half of this year, could play a big role in enhancing cooperation between China and the regional bloc.
According to China's Ministry of Commerce, the total trade volume between the two countries reached a historic high of 8.39 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 15.5 percent from 2016.