ZAGREB, May 12, 2018 – Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić on Friday attended a meeting in Sounion near the Greek capital of Athens, which brought together foreign ministers of the Visegrad Group, consisting of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic and of the quadrilateral group which in addition to Croatia includes Greece, Romania and Bulgaria, and Western Balkan countries’ ministers for the talks on the topic of the future of Europe, Europe Union enlargement and energy, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
Officials of Slovenia and Cyprus were also invited at the meeting. This is the second meeting in this format after one in Budapest in 2017.
Pejčinović Burić in particular underscored the added value of cooperation in this format which enabled the exchange of experiences in seeking a solution to various issues of common interest such as energy, infrastructure, economy, migration and even security, cohesion policies and regional development, the press release said.
She especially stressed the importance of EU enlargement and the fact that the Bulgarian chair of the Council of the EU and Romania’s chair in the future have underscored that enlargement is one of their priorities. “Enlargement will also be one of Croatia’s priorities when it chairs the Council of the EU in the first half of 2020, and Zagreb is planning to organise a summit dedicated to the topic,” the press release said.
Pejčinović Burić met her Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias on the margins of the summit.
