The Third Meeting of Heads of Government of China and Central and Eastern European countries will open in Belgrade on Tuesday.

 

Aside from the hosts, Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and China's Prime Minister Li Keqiang, the summit will bring together 14 other prime ministers of the participating countries, while the Croatian delegation will be headed by the first deputy prime minister.

The summit and an accompanying economic forum, which will be held at the Sava Center and the Palace of Serbia on December 16 and 17, will engage over 2,000 members of the economic and state delegations of China and 16 CEECs, who will discuss burning issues in the areas of agriculture, industry, tourism, IT, transport and infrastructure.

The goal of Belgrade Meeting, according to the Serbian government, is to ensure continuation of joint efforts aimed at strengthening cooperation between China and CEECs launched in Budapest three years ago and continued at the meetings in Warsaw in April, 2012, and Bucharest in 2013.

Particular emphasis is laid on the promotion of economic cooperation, so Belgrade Meeting will focus on discussing and reaching agreements on specific cooperation and investment projects.

According to the Serbian government's media cooperation office, around 1,100 journalists from 110 media outlets have been accredited to report on the summit. The number of media representatives is three times larger than in the previous two summits, which speaks of the significance of the meeting.

The Fourth Economic Forum, to be held on Tuesday afternoon at the Sava Center, will be opened by Vucic, Li Keqiang, and Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz.

On this occasion, Kopacz will announce the formation of a joint mixed economic committee of China and CEECs, which will be seated in Warsaw.

In the afternoon hours the same day, Prime Ministers Vucic and Li Keqiang will give welcome addresses, declaring open the meeting of heads of government of China and CEECs at the Palace of Serbia.

On Wednesday, a meeting of the prime ministers of China, Hungary and Macedonia will be held, during which the officials will discuss the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade rail line, and then give media statements.

The meetings as part of the Chinese prime minister's visit to Serbia are scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, the first being the talks between Li and Vucic. Li Keqiang is the first Chinese prime minister to visit Serbia since 1986.

On Thursday, the Chinese prime minister will meet Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, and then the Chinese delegation will take part in the ceremony marking the opening of the Zemun-Borca Bridge that has been built by a Chinese partner.