Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman participated in Vilnius on Thursday in the 9th Summit of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) as well as its Business Forum. After meeting with the largest Croatian business delegation so far, the minister participated in the afternoon plenary session of the Initiative. During the meeting, among other things, it was confirmed that Croatia will host the 3SI Summit and Business Forum of the in 2026, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Dubrovnik Declaration, the document that established the 3SI. In addition to the United States, Germany, and the European Commission, Japan has joined the Initiative as a new strategic partner this year.
Grlić Radman congratulated the Lithuanian president on the excellent organization of the Summit and expressed satisfaction that Lithuanian hosts, during their presidency of the Initiative, encouraged stronger cooperation among all participating states in the areas of military mobility, cyber security, critical infrastructure, and green finance.
"The Three Seas Initiative, as a platform that brings together almost half of the EU member states, with strategic partners such as the US, Germany, the European Commission, and now Japan, is of great importance for Croatia, as one-third of our total trade is with the Three Seas Initiative countries. By deepening cooperation in the sectors of energy, digitalization, and transportation, as well as in military mobility and cyber security, Lithuania has raised awareness of the strategic importance of the Three Seas Initiative," said Grlić Radman.
"Through participation in the Three Seas Initiative, Croatia remains firmly anchored not only within the transatlantic community but also becomes more visible on the global stage as a reliable partner and leader in the energy diversification of Central Europe. Therefore, we are extremely pleased that Croatia will host the 2026 Summit, marking the 10th anniversary of the Dubrovnik Declaration, the founding document of the Three Seas Initiative adopted at the first Summit in Dubrovnik in 2016," the minister added.
Compared to the previous Summit in Bucharest in 2023, Croatia has nominated seven new projects in the Catalogue of Strategic Projects of the Three Seas Initiative, all of which have been accepted, making it the participating state with the highest number of projects in the Catalogue. Strategic projects are financed from European funds, and by including them in the Catalogue, Croatia increases its chances of receiving the maximum amount of funds due to the support of all the 3SI participating countries.
Grlić Radman emphasized that the continuous strengthening of the 3SI is indicated by the fact that this year we have seen business delegations from more than 30 countries, that the Croatian business delegation is the largest to date, and that we have successfully included seven new Croatian projects in the Catalogue of Strategic Projects, making Croatia the country with the most projects with a total value of around 4 billion euros.
The minister also used the 3SI Summit for a bilateral meeting with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. The two officials confirmed excellent bilateral relations without any outstanding issues and emphasized that there is room for further strengthening of cooperation, especially in the economic field. Landsbergis confirmed Lithuania's strong support for Croatia's accession to the OECD and expressed readiness to share Lithuanian experiences related to the accession process. The Lithuanian minister expressed gratitude for Croatia's participation in NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence activities in Lithuania in 2019, 2020, and 2023.
"As one of the goals of the Three Seas Initiative is to strengthen not only the positions of member states within the European Union but also bilateral relations between participating countries, we believe that the Three Seas Initiative can further contribute to the strengthening of their positions at the European Council level," concluded the minister.
During the 3SI Business Forum, Grlić Radman held talks with representatives of Amazon Web Services and on that occasion met with Max Peterson, Vice President of AWS Sovereign Cloud, and Mariusz Mielczarek, Director of Public Policy at Amazon responsible for Central Europe. Likewise, the minister held a meeting with Mirek Dušek, Managing Director at the World Economic Forum.
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