Rõivas to meet Chinese premier in Serbia on trade issues
Serbia is welcoming representatives from 16 countries to its capital Belgrade today for a third annual summit focusing on economic cooperation between China and central and eastern European states. Estonia is being represented at the meeting by Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas.
Rõivas and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will hold a bilateral meeting during the conference. Li Keqiang stated before the summit that progress towards getting Estonian goods, including local dairy products, in the Chinese market is expected.
Estonian Minister of Foreign Trade and Entrepreneurship Anne Sulling said the Premier’s statement gives hope that Estonian companies and manufacturers will soon be able to enter the Chinese market.
The two previous summits were held in Warsaw in 2012 and Bucharest in 2013. The Chinese government announced last year it would be setting up a 10-billion-dollar fund to focus especially on the development of an infrastructure network in southeastern Europe.
Li Keqiang will be accompanied by over 200 entrepreneurs, bankers and businessmen from China. About 2,000 people in total will take part, and there will be a parallel economic forum focused on topics such as infrastructure, tourism, agriculture, and transport.
The host, Serbia, recently began accession talks with the European Union to become a full-fledged member state.
Editor: M. Himma, S. Abel, S. Tambur