Rama heads back to Belgrade for China-CEE leaders’ summit

Major summit of leaders from China and Central and Eastern Europe to be held in Belgrade next week, attended by the prime ministers and top officials from 16 countries.
TIRANA, Dec. 11 – Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is headed back to Belgrade next week to attend a high level summit aiming to promote cooperation between China and central and eastern European countries.
In addition to the Albanian premier, there will be high-ranking officials from China and 15 other countries on Dec. 16- 17 for the third summit of its kind.
Serbia’s capital plays host to the summit and an accompanying economic forum of the participating countries, which will be held on the sidelines of the summit, according to the organizers. Almost all of the participating countries will be represented by their prime ministers, including China, which will have delegation led by Prime Minister Li Keqiang.
Albania and China have lengthy relationship stemming from very tight cooperation between the two countries in the 1960s and 1970s, when Albania’s communist regime moved away from the orbit of the Moscow, creating a closer relationship with Beijing.
The two countries have hoped to build further cooperation based on that foundation, as Albania and China mark 60 years of diplomatic relations this year. The Albanian government is also hoping Chinese investors will build a major highway connecting Tirana to the Macedonian border, known locally as Arber Highway.
China has had a growing economic presence in the wider Central and Eastern European region. This will be the third summit of its kind. The first one was held in Warsaw two years ago and the second one in Bucharest last year.
The accompanying economic forum that will be held under the auspices of China, and is scheduled to be attended by dozens of heads of governments and ministers of economy.
This is the second visit of the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in the Serbian capital after he held the first official visit to Serbia on Nov. 10, when Rama held a meeting with his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic.
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic decided not to attend, replaced by the Croatian deputy prime minister and the minister of maritime affairs. Milanovic said that he will not attend the Belgrade Summit due to the temporary release of Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj from the ICTY, Serbian media reported.