After the end of the China+16 summit in Belgrade, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić thanked the Serbian government for a well-organized meeting, adding that Croatia saw this as a useful form of cooperation between the 16 EU countries and concluding that “the goal of the summit was to gradually develop a positive climate for political cooperation, which will then grow into a cooperation between business people, private and state-owned companies.” She recalled a statement by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, that he considered public-private partnership an interesting model for this kind of cooperation.
“We see this cooperation as a kind of supplement to or amplifier of the EU-China strategic partnership, given that Croatia, like some EU member states that were attending the summit, believes that this part of Europe should become a part of the EU,” Pusić said.
The summit also discussed direct loans that the Chinese side is offering for certain projects both to member states and countries in various stages of accession, as well as infrastructure projects, although this was not the type of meeting where concrete projects are being discussed, but serves more to create a positive political will and climate as a foundation for concrete agreement and projects in the future.