China-CEEC Workshop for Public Health Executives and Emergency Health Professionals was successfully held both online and offline on November 16-17, 2021. The workshop was hosted by Department of International Cooperation of NHC, and organized by HHRDC, aiming to promote public health emergencies capacity-building, to strengthen public health emergency system at both national and regional level, and to further enhance health cooperation and exchange among China and CEECs. More than 160 representatives from 12 countries, including diplomats in the fields of health administration, health professionals, policy makers, health emergency response and disease control experts, participated in the workshop.

After nine years of development since 2012, China-CEEC cooperation has become an influential platform for trans-regional cooperation. It has not only promoted balanced development within the EU and European integration, but also enriched China-EU relations. The COVID-19 outbreak has never severed between China and CEEC. On the contrary, a stronger willingness to cooperate and support each other has created a lot of positive energy to the global fight against COVID-19. Health cooperation is an important component of China-CEEC practical cooperation. Since the first China-CEEC Health Ministers' Forum in 2015, a series of concrete progress has been made in hospital cooperation, health policies, public health and health workforce under the framework of the Health Ministers' Forum. China and CEEC share similarities in public health systems development, and are at similar stage in its improvement. This workshop serves as a platform for experience sharing and knowledge exchange especially under the pandemic setting.

The key topics of this workshop included: global health governance and health workforce in the context of COVID-19, public health system and health emergency response system building, multi-channel and multi-point trigger warning mechanism, effectiveness and significance of COVID-19 vaccine,  traditional medicine application from an international perspective etc. Experts from China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Peking Union Medical College and China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine made speeches and lead exchanges. Representatives from Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia and other countries shared their measures and challenges in responding to the pandemic and health emergencies. Participants agreed that exchanges and cooperation and enhanced information sharing among countries are positive measures to deal with the pandemic. Mutual trust and joint efforts are keys to address health challenges to mankind.