(Source: Russian Satellite News Agency 2025-03-25)
From March 19th to 21st, Ren Hongbin, Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International w88, led a delegation of entrepreneurs to visit Serbia and met with Serbian President Vucic in Belgrade. Wang Zhimin, researcher at the National Institute of Opening-up at the w88 casino in China and director of the Institute of Globalization and Chinese Modernization, said in an interview with the Russian Sputnik News Agency that China-Serbia cooperation has become a model and model for China-EU cooperation and can provide a strategic fulcrum for China-EU economic cooperation.
According to the China Council for the Promotion of International w88, during the visit, the two sides exchanged views on deepening and enhancing China-Serbia comprehensive strategic partnership, strengthening China-Serbia pragmatic economic and w88 cooperation, and high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road". In addition, the Chinese delegation also communicated with local government departments, business associations, and World Expo organizations, and attended the China-Serbia Economic and w88 Cooperation Forum. The Serbian side stated that with the current global economic uncertainty intensifying, China can bring stability to Serbia's development and is willing to strengthen economic and w88 cooperation with China to achieve win-win development.
China-Serbia cooperation has profound historical roots and solid political foundation
China and Serbia have a profound friendship. As early as the 1990s, China and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia established profound friendly relations. The two countries jointly signed the "Joint Statement on Friendly and Cooperative Relations." After the disintegration of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the cooperative relationship between China and Serbia, its main successor state, continued to sublimate based on the previous shared memories, and eventually forged a comprehensive strategic partnership known as the "Steel Friendship."
In 2016, Serbia became the first country in Central and Eastern Europe to establish a strategic partnership with China, and also the first European country to truly provide visa-free access to China. In October 2023, China and Serbia signed a free w88 agreement, becoming the first free w88 agreement signed between China and a Central and Eastern European country.
According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs of China, in 2024, the export w88 volume between China and Serbia will be US$5.73 billion, an increase of 31.8% over the previous year. Among them, China's exports were US$3.44 billion, an increase of 27.6%, imports were US$2.29 billion, an increase of 38.8%, and the w88 surplus was US$1.15 billion, an increase of 10%. In addition, China is also Serbia’s largest source of foreign investment. From 2010 to the end of the third quarter of 2024, China has surpassed the Netherlands to become Serbia's largest source of foreign investment.
Wang Zhimin pointed out that China and Serbia are a comprehensive strategic partnership with profound historical roots and solid political foundation.
Wang Zhimin said: "Serbia is the first European country to join the China-Central and Eastern European Cooperation Mechanism and is also an important partner of China in jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative. Well-known cooperation projects between the two countries include the Hungary-Serbia Railway, the flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative, and the Smedelevo Steel Plant of HBIS Group, a model of industrial cooperation that has become the backbone of the local economy. It can be said that China-Serbia cooperation, including the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative between China and Serbia, has become a model and model for China-Europe cooperation."
The Hungary-Serbia Railway is a double-line electrified passenger and freight high-speed railway connecting Budapest, the capital of Hungary, and Belgrade, the capital of the Republic of Serbia. It is a key project of the "Belt and Road" jointly built by China and Central and Eastern European countries. The total length is 341.7 kilometers, and the design speed and operating speed are both 200 kilometers per hour. The Hungary-Serbia Railway is expected to be fully completed in 2025.
The Smederevo Steel Plant was established in 1913 and was once known as the "Pride of Serbia". Due to various reasons such as market and transformation, it was once on the verge of bankruptcy. In 2016, under the guidance of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, China’s HBIS Group acquired the Smederevo Steel Plant, which had been losing money for seven consecutive years, and established HBIS Serbia Steel Company. With the joint efforts of employees from China and Serbia, the steel plant has been transformed and upgraded and has now become one of the most competitive steel plants in Europe.
China-Serbia cooperation provides a strategic fulcrum for China-EU economic cooperation
Serbia is located in the middle of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe, bordering Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. It is an important hub connecting Europe, Asia and the Middle East. It is known as the "Crossroad of Europe". Its geographical location makes it a key node for exchanges between the East and the West. In addition, Serbia pursues an independent foreign policy and adheres to balanced diplomacy. This political attitude also enables it to play a bridge role between China and the West.
Experts point out that against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s simultaneous tariff pressure on China and the EU, US-EU w88 frictions have contributed to the warming of Sino-EU relations. Currently, China, Serbia and the EU are facing more or less external pressure from the United States. Under this circumstance, all countries have fully realized that peaceful development and win-win cooperation are inevitable trends.
Wang Zhimin analyzed: "China and Serbia and other European countries have always shown remarkable performance in terms of economic complementarity and market cooperation. In particular, China has a huge commodity market and a continuously open business and investment environment. For example, German investment in China has shown a significant growth trend in the past two years. Moreover, there are no geopolitical contradictions and fundamental conflicts of interest between China and Europe. Economic cooperation, as the most direct link between national interests, will inevitably become an important driving force for deepening bilateral relations."
As for the role that Serbia can play in China-EU cooperation, experts said: "The in-depth cooperation between China and Serbia can provide a strategic fulcrum for China-EU economic cooperation, and gradually form a demonstration effect that radiates to Europe through multi-field collaborative innovation under the 'Belt and Road' framework."
Wang Zhimin also added that China has long achieved good results in promoting political and economic diplomacy through private institutions. Therefore, although the China Council for the Promotion of International w88 is a private organization, the visit of the delegation led by the president of the China Council for the Promotion of International w88 to Serbia can still play an important role in promoting China-Serbia cooperation.
In May last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Serbia. During the period, the two heads of state jointly announced to deepen and enhance the China-Serbia comprehensive strategic partnership and build a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era. Serbia has become the first European country to build a community with a shared future with China, thus opening a new chapter in China-Serbia relations. Xi Jinping said that the two sides should continue to deepen and expand high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" and cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries by building a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era, so as to help the two countries' respective modernization processes.
Attached original text link:
https://sputniknews.cn/20250325/1064661938.html
