Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Borissov participates in China-CEEC 16+1 Summit

Prime Ministers of 16 Central and Eastern European countries and China meet in Croatian city of Dubrovnik for the eighth 16 + 1 Summit, held on 12^th of April.

Six agreements will be signed between China and the countries of the region in the areas of tourism, transport, construction and renewable energy.

Bulgaria is represented by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who will sign an agreement for the opening of the EU-China Global Cooperation Centre. The centre will be located in Sofia. Its establishment was agreed last year at the forum in Sofia.

Bulgaria and China are expected to sign an agreement for the construction of a logistics centre near Varna, from where the Chinese goods will be reallocated to Europe, and vice versa. An agreement will be signed to increase the export of Bulgarian agricultural produce.

Prime Minister Borissov and his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang, have already talked about the possibility for China to participate in the construction of Belene nuclear power plant (NPP). The Chinese side can only participate in the construction with state guarantees provided by the Bulgarian authorities.

The plenary session of the 16 heads of state and government began at noon. The meeting is hosted by the Croatian Prime Minister Andrei Plenkovic. China has been enlarging its economic expansion more dynamically in the region, with more than EUR 12 billion invested in the Central and Eastern European countries for only 10 years, and 6 billion in the Western Balkan countries. Most Chinese investments are in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

In parallel with the 16+1 Summit, a European-Chinese Business Forum will be held with over 600 companies attending from both sides.

China is the EU's second largest trading partner. The two countries have a turnover of 1 billion per day. Only days ago, the EU and China reached an agreement to ease trade and investment conditions, putting an end to the so-called "one-door play".