Leaders of 13 central European countries hoping to join the European Union, along with the presidents of Germany, Italy and Austria, gathered in Slovenia today for a two-day summit to review their role in a future united Europe.
The gathering, amid tight security, was to open at the lake resort of Bled and continue at Brdo pri Kranju castle near Ljubljana, site of last year's summit between the US president Mr George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart Mr Vladimir Putin.
The summit will group the heads of states of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania - the countries already actively preparing to enter the European Union - together with the ones hoping to join in a second wave of enlargement: Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Ukraine and Yugoslavia.
The organisers said the 16 presidents will also hold bilateral meetings, and were expected to issue a joint closing declaration tomorrow.
AFP