The Sixth High Level Symposium 17 + 1 was held in Bled, on September 3rd and 4th, 2019. Minister of Education, Science and Sport and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Prof. Dr. Jernej Pikalo, opened the Symposium. Among speakers at the opening session also were former President of the Republic of Slovenia, Danilo Turk, Prof. Dr. Huang Ping, Director of the Institute for European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Chair of the Secretariat of the 17 + 1 think tank network, as well as HE. Ambassador Huo Yuzhen, Special Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China for Cooperation with the CEE Countries.
The working part of the symposium was organized in three panels. In the first panel “From 16 + 1 to 17 + 1: Cooperation through the Prism of EU-China Relations”, the first speaker was Prof. Dr. Branislav Djordjevic, Director of IIPE. The topic of the second panel was “Innovative and Sustainable Development of 17 + 1 Cooperation, while Dr. Ivona Ladjevac, the Head of the Center for Belt and Road spoke during the third “Perspectives for Strengthening 17 + 1 Cooperation”.
On the sidelines of the Symposium, Prof. Dr. Branislav Đorđević and Prof. Dr. Huang Ping agreed on a 2020 IIPE and IES collaboration plan.
