ZAGREB, July 5, 2018 – The leaders of Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) will try to expand and deepen their cooperation with China at the seventh 16+1 summit in Sofia on Saturday, and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković will try to further intensify relations with one of the world’s largest and fastest growing economies.
Plenković will participate in the conference with the heads of government of ten other European Union member states and five candidates for EU membership, countries stretching from the Baltic to the Balkans.
The main topic of the summit is “deepening open and pragmatic cooperation for inclusive prosperity”.
Attending will be representatives of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. China will be represented by Premier Li Kequiang.
At the previous summit held in Budapest in November 2017, Plenković said that this platform was important for the positioning of Croatia in relations with China. He said that Croatia’s interests in economic cooperation with China lay in infrastructure, seaports and tourism.
