Li Keqiang

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Foreign Minister Yorgos Katrougalos are in China for the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, based on the ancient Silk Road, linking East and Southeast Asia with East Africa, West Asia, and southern Europe.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is to visit China later this week, his third visit as premier in as as many years to attend a summit on China's Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on April 27.

Amid tightening relations between Greece and China, Tsipras is also expected to meet with top government officials and explore prospects for economic cooperation.

Chinese PM Li Keqiang with Croatian PM Andrej Plenkovic during the 16+1 Initiative Summit. Photo: EPA-EFE/STR

Darko Horvat, the Croatian Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts Minister, said on Thursday that a delegation from "the world's largest shipbuilding industry" will visit the Uljanik and Treci Maj shipyards in Pula and Rijeka.

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila carried out a meeting on Friday with China's Prime Minister Li Keqiang, occasion on which she showed the interest in involving some Chinese companies in public-private partnership (PPP) projects and in opening a traditional Chinese medicine center in Romania.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Friday welcomed Greece as the 17th member of the 16+1 Initiative of Central and Eastern European countries plus China at a summit of the initiative on trade held in Dubrovnik.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sought to allay concerns that it is violating European Union competition rules, pledging to respect standards and fair trade.  

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is to attend Friday's 16+1 Summit in Dubrovnik, Croatia, between China and 16 European countries - 11 of which are European Union member-states.

According to reports, Tsipras may also meet with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang. 

The Adriatic city of Dubrovnik, Croatia's best-known tourist destination, on Thursday and Friday will host the 16 + 1 summit, a Chinese initiative to strengthen business ties between China and 16 countries from Central and Eastern Europe.

The meeting will be held April 11-12 in Dubrovnik, the Serbian government has announced.

Turkey's Parliament Speaker Binali Yıldırım met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Dec. 4 as part of his official visit to China.

Participants in the summit issued the Sofia Guidelines for Cooperation between China and CEE with "Deepening open and pragmatic cooperation for inclusive prosperity" as its theme. They stressed that the 16+1 Cooperation constitutes an important part of and a positive complementary to the relationship between China and the EU: