Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, accompanied by Vice Premier for Economic Affairs Vladimir Pesevski and Deputy-Economy Minister Hristijan Delev took part Tuesday at the 4. Summit of Heads of Government of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and PR China, and the 5. National Economic and Trade Forum in Suzhou, China.

PM Gruevski addressed the summit of Heads of Government, attended by delegations from 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, along with the host, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.

"Macedonia and China are tied by traditional friendship, bilateral relations are continually enhanced, accompanied by important projects within the Central European Initiative", said Gruevski.

He stressed that in the framework of China's commitment to the CEE cooperation process, Macedonia has recognized and accepted the opportunities for funding of infrastructure projects.

PM Gruevski said Macedonia is the first country to sign an agreement over use of a portion of the funds, allocated for the construction of new motorway sections Skopje-Stip and Kicevo-Ohrid.

He also referred to the possibilities for future cooperation and projects of enormous significance for the country and region.

"Important European corridors pass through Macedonia and the country is interested in involvement into joint infrastructure projects within the 16+1 cooperation process. The Government is fully committed to attracting foreign companies and open for Chinese investments", said Gruevski.

Chinese PM Keqiang said cooperation between China and CEE states is an example of commitment and use of potentials at disposal.

"PR China is interested in infrastructure investments, especially roads and railways, construction, IT, agriculture. Prior summits have shown that each government is working hard on achieving more advanced levels of cooperation", added Keqiang.

He said China is intensively working on stimulating companies to invest in the CEE region.

"Chinese companies are currently prepared to invest US$ 5 billion in these countries, and I believe investments will rise by half of this amount in the coming period", underlined Keqiang.

The 5. National Economic and Trade Forum in Suzhou, which brings together more than 1,000 representatives of business sectors from the 16 CEE states and China, includes Macedonian companies organized by the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce (SSK). The forum represents an opportunity for networking and increase of trade exchange.