On Saturday 7 July, Prime Minister Māris Kučinskis will pay a visit to Sofia (Bulgaria) to participate at the ‘16 + 1’ summit of the Heads of Government of Central and Eastern European countries and China.
The theme of the Bulgaria summit - "To deepen open and pragmatic cooperation for inclusive prosperity".
Within the framework of the visit, M. Kučinskis will have bilateral meetings with Prime Minister of China Li Keqiang.
The focus of negotiations with the Prime Minister of China will be on economic cooperation. This will be the third meeting of M.Kučinskis and Li Keqiang - the previous meetings were held in 2016 in Rīga and in 2017 in Budapest. The meeting with the Romanian Prime Minister will address the cooperation between the two countries, as well as the situation in Europe.
The 16+1 format is an initiative of China aimed at intensifying cooperation with 11 EU Member States and 5 Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia) in the fields of investment, transport, finance, science, education, and culture.
The first ‘16+1’ summit was held in 2012 in Warsaw (Poland). In 2016, the ‘16+1’summit of Central and Eastern Europe and China was held in Rīga.
China is the major trading partner of Latvia in the Far East. Since 2016, exports of Latvian goods to China have almost tripled amounting to EUR 131.45 million in 2017 (by 9.25% more than in 2016). The number of Chinese tourists in the Baltic region reached almost 60,000 guests last year. The Latvian authorities are working intensively on attracting Chinese tourists in order to launch direct air traffic between Latvia and China.
Andrejs Vaivars
Press Secretary to the Prime Minister
Mob.: 29228678
E-mail: Andrejs.Vaivars@mk.gov.lv