At the China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Expo, which concluded in late May in East China’s Ningbo, exhibits from Serbia stood out and shone, as did the current relationship between China and Serbia, of which the leaders of both countries have defined as the best in history.
The Global Times reporters Hu Yuwei and Xie Wenting (GT) recently conducted an exclusive interview with Siniša Mali (Mali), Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and Minister of Finance to hear his insights on the relations between two countries. In his eyes, the friendship between China and Serbia is a strong and enduring bond that has been built on a foundation of mutual respect, trust, and cooperation. Over the years, the two nations have worked together to promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and beyond.
He suggested that to Serbia, China is one of the closest and most important strategic partners as well as the biggest national investor. The practical economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has shown strong vitality and the bilateral relations are continuously improving thanks to the promotion of the top leaders of the two countries.
Our objective is to proceed with steady improvement and strengthen cooperation, such as in the China-CEEC cooperation mechanism and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Serbia actively and strongly supports both initiatives, through which the entire period of ten years of endeavors have been summarized and this constitutes the most noteworthy quality of our relationship.
During a visit to China, Serbian Minister of Agriculture signed protocols in Ningbo on May 16 with China’s Vice Minister of the General Administration of Customs Wang Lingjun on the export of honey and pet food to the Chinese market.A third protocol for the export of apples was also negotiated, which is expected to be signed shortly. This is all good news for our two countries and there is yet more to come.
We are proud that we have achieved numerous results that secure us a place at the top of the list of countries with the highest number of implemented and planned infrastructure projects with China.
One of the most important events of this year is the start of construction of the Serbian-Chinese Industrial Park Mihajlo Pupin in Belgrade, our capital, which will create about 20,000 jobs. It is a direct and most important advantage for Serbian citizens since modern employment is fundamental to us and we create it through this kind of cooperation; we have found a model that gives fantastic results by which we succeed in reducing the unemployment rate in Serbia to around nine percent, and whether you may believe it or not, only ten years ago it amounted to almost 26 percent.
Serbia is boldly moving forward and achieving good economic results despite the global economic crisis. We do not abandon any capital infrastructure projects, we continue to invest in road and railroad infrastructure, construction of schools and hospitals, and the modernization of the energy sector, of which our excellent cooperation with China plays an important role in our economic progress and development.
China is Serbia’s most important trading partner in Asia. The volume of exchange in the last two years has increased by 75 percent. During the last two years, China has been the largest foreign investor in Serbia. Only during the three quarters of 2022, an inflow of investments in the amount of one billion euros was recorded.
All that has been stated above confirms productive cooperation and good investment decisions by the two countries. To reiterate, it is the most important achievement to date. Relations between Serbia and China are currently the best they have ever been in history and they are constantly improving, with the growth of economic parameters, investments, imports, exports, and employment.
We should bear in mind that very cordial relationship between the two Presidents, Xi Jinping and Aleksandar Vucic, certainly constitutes the basis and core of good economic cooperation. Until recently, the most important area of economic cooperation was the implementation of infrastructure projects in Serbia.
Recently, with the arrival of significant Chinese companies – investors, investment cooperation, accompaniedby the growth of trade, especially in terms of our exports, became the engine for the further strengthening of our economic relations.
Chinese investors in Serbia invest not only in mines and steel mills, but also in the automotive industry. Chinese companies in Serbia currently employ just over 26,000 people. Most employees are in the automotive industry, followed by the mining and energy sector, the metal machinery industry and the electrical industry.
Companies owned by Chinese investors in Serbia are the top three exporters from Serbia to the world, generating $2.9-billion-worth of exports in 2022, or 10 percent of Serbia’s total exports to the world.
Accurately, taking after the case of Serbia, I believe that China as of now has its own model of how to reinforce its integration with other countries, where required.
The modernization and reconstruction of the Hungarian-Serbian railway line Belgrade-Budapest is underway, on which two sections have been completed and where the high-speed line Belgrade-Novi Sad, which connects our two largest cities, came into service in March 2022, followed by various important roads that connect our country.
