Tangshan, a city of North China's Hebei province, is going to host the third China-Central and Eastern European Countries Local Leaders' Meeting on Thursday and Friday.

Hao Jiecheng, deputy director of the General Office of Hebei province, made the announcement on Monday.

The meeting, including five forums and a trade fair, will attract representatives from all 16 Central and Eastern European countries, according to Hao.

Also, 58 governors and mayors from these countries will lead their delegations to attend the meeting.

Others attending the meeting will include officials from the Central Chinese government as well as from 15 Chinese provinces.

First held in Chongqing in 2013, the China-CEEC Local Leaders' Meeting is a platform for local regions in China to enhance their cooperation with their counterparts in the CEE countries.

The second such meeting was held in Prague in 2014.

Wang Wengang, counselor of the Department of European Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, said the meeting held in Tangshan will not only promote cooperation between China and the CEE countries, but also develop the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the European Union.

Cooperation between Hebei and the CEE countries goes back more than five decades ago, when China established a farm in Cangzhou, a city of Hebei in the 1950s with farming machines presented by Czechoslovakia.

In recent years, Hebei renewed its cooperation with the CEE countries ugh a number of projects, including a merger deal the Hebei Iron and Steel Group offered to a steel company in the Serbian city of Smederevo.

Hao, the official of Hebei, said all the procedures of the merger deal are expected to be finished by the end of this year.