The 12th issue of the Foreign Policy Studies series, published in March 2019, features papers and summaries from the international academic and research conference “Advancing the 16+1 Cooperation Platform – The Way Ahead.” The conference was organised by the Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute as part of the official calendar of events accompanying the 7th Summit of the Prime Ministers of China and the Central and Eastern European Countries within the framework of the “16+1” Cooperation Platform.

The proceedings, published in both English and Bulgarian, present substantial expertise and a diversity of perspectives from representatives of leading Chinese universities, research institutes and think tanks, as well as scholars and researchers from 10 Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

The publication follows the structure of the conference programme, organised into four main panels: the political dimension of “16+1”; the economic dimension of “16+1”; intercivilisational, cultural, scientific, educational and humanitarian exchanges within the framework of “16+1”; local-level cooperation within the framework of “16+1”.