Croatia must open to Chinese capital and companies, removing administrative barriers, however, when it comes to large-scale infrastructure projects, we must focus more on structural funds from the European Union than on borrowing, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said in Bucharest after the China-Central and East Europe summit.
We must create an administrative barrier-free space for Chinese capital and companies, however, infrastructure projects such as the railway line Rijeka-Botovo will be funded by means from European development funds, as this money is free and we must focus on that, Milanovic said, adding that his country had made a better deal than Serbia and Hungary that will build a joint railway with funds from a loan.
The Bucharest meeting brought together Chinese Prime Minister Li Kegiang and heads of state or government from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Milanovic said that the gathering in Bucharest was political in nature and that those officials had come to give political support to cooperation, taking care to avoid overlapping with "structures and obligations we have towards the European Union".
He also said that the summit represented "an important phase in the development of new relations between China and the above-mentioned countries", and was happening in an important period after the China-EU summit in Beijing that had additionally strengthened partnership between China and the Union.
Both summits oblige us to work hard in order to accomplish joint objectives, the Croatian PM said.
Croatia welcomes the guidelines from Bucharest regarding the development of cooperation between China and Club 16, he added.
China and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have an enormous potential for economic cooperation, but we must put that cooperation on firmer foundations and we must hurry up, Chinese Prime Minister Li said opening the China-CEE trade forum earlier in the day.
(Hina)
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