Greek PM in Belgrade for two regional summits
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and members of his cabinet are in Belgrade on Friday for the second Greek-Serbian High-Level Cooperation Council and the sixth High Council of Cooperation between Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Serbia.
Tsipras, who also holds the Foreign Ministry portfolio, is accompanied on the trip by the ministers for Digital Policy Nikos Pappas, Citizens' Protection Olga Gerovassili, and Infrastructure and Transport Christos Spirtzis; Alternate Economy Minister Pitsiorlas; and deputy ministers of Foreign Affairs Markos Bolaris and Sports Giorgos Vassiliadis.
The first of the two meetings, which is a follow-up to the July 2017 Greek-Serbian High-Level Cooperation Council that took place in Thessaloniki, the leaders and ministers will be discussing ways to strengthen bilateral ties in the areas of the economy, energy, policing, sports and interconnectivity via road, rail and digital technology.
Tsipras will be sitting down with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at 11 a.m. for talks on regional developments but also on the progress of Greece's name deal with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Later in the afternoon and on Saturday morning, Tsipras and Vucic will be joined by the prime ministers of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov and Romania Viorica Dancila for the sixth summit between the four countries. The last had taken place in Varna in Bulgaria at the start of November.
Energy and transport ties are expected to be on the agenda, as well as talks on the utilization of funds from the European Union, the United States and China for specific infrastructure projects.
The delegations' sports ministers will also be discussing a proposal introduced at the last summit for a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup in soccer.
