Plenković with the U.S. Energy Secretary: We Want New American Investments

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković met in Warsaw with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, emphasizing that Zagreb wants to attract new American investments and energize economic exchange.

Plenković met with Wright on the sidelines of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) summit taking place in the Polish capital on Monday and Tuesday.

– With strong GDP growth and an A credit rating, we want to attract new investments from American companies and energize economic exchange – Plenković wrote on X on Tuesday.

The members of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) are Croatia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece, and this platform has had strong support from Washington since its inception in 2015.

– We want to continue building close and allied relations with the U.S., which is also supported by energy cooperation, especially since 65 percent of the ships that brought gas to the LNG terminal come from the U.S. – emphasized the Croatian Prime Minister.

The initiative has been based on strong transatlantic relations from the beginning, with the U.S. as its strategic partner – alongside Germany, the European Commission, and Japan – and its interest in the project was also shown by U.S. President Donald Trump, who was then serving his first term in the White House, by attending the summit in Warsaw in 2017, giving it political momentum.

A year later, at the summit in Bucharest, Energy Secretary Rick Perry participated, clearly stating that Europe should diversify its energy sources, emphasizing, quoting Trump, that ‘the U.S. will never use energy to punish you nor will it allow others to do so.’

This time, Washington sent Energy Secretary Wright again, which analysts say shows that the initiative still has the interest of the Trump administration.

On Monday, Wright told Reuters that liquefied natural gas deliveries from the U.S. will continue to increase.

The United States is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and has played an important role in supplying Europe since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 significantly reduced the amount of Russian gas delivered to Europe, Reuters highlights.

– With terminals in Krk for oil and liquefied gas, Croatia is becoming a regional energy hub – noted the Croatian Prime Minister.

Given that the Three Seas Initiative encompasses nearly half of the countries in the European Union, those on the eastern flank between the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black Seas, it continues to work on strengthening energy, transport, and digital infrastructure, and is an area of the European Union that is growing very rapidly – there is clear interest from American investors, analysts believe.

Although the initiative is open for membership only to EU member states due to the unique legislative system and simpler achievement of goals, it is open for partnership with other countries.

Thus, on Tuesday, Montenegro and Albania should join the initiative in that status, alongside previously joined members Moldova and Ukraine, and with strategic partners the U.S., Germany, the EC, and Japan, it will also gain new ones – Turkey and Spain.