The Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang will be arriving in Romania next week with a group of representatives from 200 Chinese companies, according to Romanian daily Ziarul Financiar.

In his first visit to eastern Europe, the Chinese PM, who took office in March 2013, will negotiate energy projects worth some EUR 5 billion in Romania, according to the local newspaper. Among the business representatives will be officials from China Nuclear Power, Synohidro, Huadian Power Interna­tional Corpo­ra­tion and China National Electric Engine­ering.

Next week Li Keqiang will attend the China – Central and Eastern Europe Cooperation Summit in Bucharest, which will include meetings on transport, energy, agriculture, tourism and IT issues.

Delegates from Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Macedonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Albania will also attend the summit in Bucharest, taking place between November 26 and 29.

An exhibition of fast Chinese trains will also be organized outside the Parliament Palace in Bucharest during the summit. The same event last year happened in Warsaw, and in 2011, in Budapest.

Romania is an importer from China, with EUR 2.1 billion worth of goods imported from the Asian country in 2012. So far, Chinese companies have expressed interest in investing in the expansion of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania, as well as in the Tarniţa-Lăpuş­teşti hydro power plant.

editor@romania-insider.com