China plans to invite 1,000 young people from Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) to participate in workshops in China throughout the next decade in order to boost exchanges among youth from both sides, a Foreign Ministry official said in Beijing on Thursday.

Young people will attend the Bridge of Future youth campus and workshop in China, something that leaders who attended the fifth China-CEEC leader meeting in Riga in November agreed on.

Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Haixing made the announcement at a ceremony marking the end of the Year of China-CEEC People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges, which was co-hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Secretariat of China-CEEC Cooperation.

Attending the fourth China-CEEC leader meeting in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, in November last year, Premier Li Keqiang proposed making 2016 the year of such exchanges.

Liu estimated on Thursday that China and Central and Eastern European countries have held more than 40 activities concerning people-to-people exchanges this year, and said that the two sides have held successfully high-level dialogues in fields including culture, education and health.

Liu suggested that both sides should step up efforts to provide more people-to-people exchanges, and encouraged them to make regular youth exchanges.