The 13th summit of the heads of Central-European states, presided over by Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov, opens on May 19.

The presidents of Croatia, Moldova, Albania, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Ukraine, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Lithuania will take part in the forum, Bulgarian National Radio reported. Bulgarian representatives include Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin.

The schedule of the summit includes the traditional meeting between the heads of state and business representatives dedicated to public-private partnership. This year's focus is infrastructure usage in Central Europe.

Business participants in the meeting include DaimplerChrysler, Siemens Transport, CEZ and Deutsche Bank.

The history of the summit dates back to 1994 when the former Austian president Thomas Klestil organised the first forum. Since then the heads of the Central-European states have been meeting annually. The meetings are informal and resemble a free discussion and exchange of opinions on matters of common interest to the participating states.