Twelve EU member countries located between the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Seas - Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia - support "The Three Seas Initiative", an informal platform designed to secure political support and facilitate action in specific cross-border and macro-regional projects, reads the declaration.
The said projects in the energy, transport, digital communication and economic sectors in Central and Eastern Europe are expected to strengthen the competitiveness of the 12 countries' economies and their security as well as strengthen the entire EU.
The Three Seas Initiative is open to partnerships in specific projects with interested countries or businesses from all over the world that are committed to basic EU values and principles, says the document.
In his speech at the opening of the conference, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that LNG projects in Poland and Croatia, once they became operational, would be attractive to international investors.
One of the speakers at the Dubrovnik conference today was also Liu Haixing, China's Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of relations with Central and Eastern European countries.
China believes that developing a European north-south corridor based on Adriatic and Baltic sea ports is compatible with China's Silk Road strategy, he said.
US General James L. Jones, president of Jones Group International and President Barack Obama's former advisor on national security, said that developing The Three Seas Initiative had to be a critical element not only of Europe's development but of its security as well.
Jones recalled that Russia used its energy sources today to gain economic influence and strengthen its geopolitical goals.
Connecting Europe's north and south better with energy infrastructure as part of The Three Seas Initiative turns that situation around and undermines a dimension of that strategy, Jones said.
After a round table debate, held on the first day of the Dubrovnik Forum and attended, apart from the presidents of Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Hungary and Slovenia, by ministers or deputy ministers from some of the member-countries, the Dubrovnik Forum will continue on Friday with round table debates at the ministerial level.