The 16+1 Summit: Exercises in Diversification
On November 27th, the sixth annual 16+1 summit of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and China was held in Budapest. As with previous years, this summit contained many promises but was critically low on tangible results or concrete measures for the future.
The 16+1 initiative was established in Warsaw in 2012 by the Chinese government as a framework of initiatives focused on bolstering cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The group includes eleven EU countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) and five non‑EU Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia), as well as (of course) China.
Photo: Reuters
