By Li Hongmei

Premier Li Keqiang attends a welcoming ceremony with his Romanian counterpart Victor Ponta on his arrival at Bucharest airport in the Romanian capital on Monday. YAO DAWEI / XINHUA 

Premier Li Keqiang says China is to invest in Romanian nuclear and wind energy production as well as high-speed railways.

Li Keqiang arrived in Romania on Monday, a day ahead of a summit with leaders from Central and East European countries.

It was the first visit by a Chinese Premier to Romania in 19 years. Li said the visit "consolidates reciprocal political trust."

Chinese and Romanian officials signed 13 deals to cooperate in nuclear and thermoelectric energy projects and to resume beef and pork exports.

No values for the deals were disclosed.

The two sides signed two nuclear cooperation agreements expected to give China General Nuclear Power Group a role in Romania's sole Cernavoda plant as it builds extra reactors.

The agreements, including a letter of intent between Romania's Nuclearelectrica company and CGN, were signed in the presence of Li and his Romanian counterpart Victor Ponta.

Romanian authorities said last year that CGN was interested in the construction of two new reactors at Romania's nuclear plant in Cernavoda, a project estimated to cost more than 4 billion euros (US$5.4 billion).

"As far as the European Union's rules of competition are concerned, Romania will certainly observe them," Ponta said. "But today, under conditions of equal, European competition, there are numerous fields where the Chinese companies' bids are better from a technical and financial point of view."

Two reactors operate at Cernavoda, providing about 17 percent of the country's electricity.

Romanian exports to China have tripled since 2008 and bilateral commerce this year amounted to US$3.27 billion, according to Chinese authorities.