Belt and Road Initiative

Dialogue and prospects for cooperation between China and the Balkans are discussed at a forum near Balchik. The event is organized by a Chinese NGO and Ivan Hadjiyski Institute of Sociology, and Deputy Prime Minister Krasimir Karakachanov attended the meeting.

Experts in Greece hailed the growth of Piraeus Port under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) during a two-day seminar in the city.

China's Belt and Road projects across the Balkans display a worrying lack of transparency - but most ordinary people are more interested in the chance of new jobs, an expert on China says.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' presence at the Belt and Road Initiative Forum in Beijing Friday and Saturday, in addition to Greece's joining the initiative of 16 countries of Eastern and Southeastern countries with strong relations with China, shows how far Greece has come since 2009. That was when China's state-owned Cosco took over part of Piraeus's container port.

China's Belt and Road initiative must be green and sustainable, President Xi Jinping said at the opening of a summit on his grand plan on April 26, adding that the massive infrastructure and trade plan should result in "high-quality" growth for everyone.

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.

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.

China pledged on Friday to increase trade with Central European countries and provide more financial support for major cross border infrastructure projects to promote regional cooperation.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Friday welcomed Greece as the 17th European member of the Cooperation of Central and Eastern European countries and China, known as the 16+1 initiative, at the opening of the fifth CEEC-China Summit, in Dubrovnik.