Xi, Vucic hold talks, hail evergrowing ironclad friendship

(Global Times) --Chinese President Xi Jinping and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Wednesday signed a joint statement on building a community with shared future in the new era in Belgrade, making Serbia the first European country to build such a community with China.

Tens of thousands of Serbian people chant “China! Serbia!” while waving Chinese and Serbian national flags as they welcome the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Belgrade.

In the joint statement, the two countries decided to deepen and elevate the China-Serbia comprehensive strategic partnership. Serbia was the first Central and Eastern European country to become China’s comprehensive strategic partner eight years ago.
“It is a strategic choice made by both sides to build a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era. Its goal is to realise the aspiration of the two peoples for a better life. Its foundation and driving force come from the firm support and extensive participation of the two peoples,” Xi told reporters during a joint press conference with Vucic.
Xi also announced six measures to support the building of a China-Serbia community with a shared future.
China is ready to import more quality and distinctive agricultural products from Serbia. China welcomes Serbia to increase direct flights between Belgrade and Shanghai, and encourages airlines from both sides to launch direct flights between Belgrade and Guangzhou.
The Chinese side will aid 50 young Serbian scientists in exchange programs with China for the next three years and a total of 300 Serbian youths will be invited to study in China in the next three years, said Xi.
China supports Serbia in hosting Expo 2027, and will send a delegation to participate in the grand show. China encourages its enterprises to take part in the construction of relevant projects, Xi said.
With joint efforts from China and Serbia, the free trade agreement between the two countries will take effect on July 1, Xi said.
During his talks with Vucic on Wednesday in Belgrade, Xi said bilateral relations between China and Serbia are richer in content and have become a model of friendly relations between China and European countries.
Xi called on China and Serbia to carry forward the innovative nature of bilateral relations, open up new prospects for cooperation, and make innovative cooperation a new growth point of bilateral ties.
Xi was greeted by tens of thousands of Serbians on Wednesday and a welcoming ceremony was held outside the Palace of Serbia before the meeting between the two leaders.
Chinese national flags and Chinese-language welcoming banners were hanging on landmark buildings in Belgrade on Wednesday. 
Chinese and Serbian experts said the meeting between the two heads of state will continue to provide high-level guidance to the sound development of bilateral relationship for the years to come and further inject vitality into the time-weathered, ironclad friendship.
On Tuesday, a signed article by President Xi titled “May the Light of Our Ironclad Friendship Shine on the Path of China-Serbia Cooperation” was published in Serbian media Politika.  
Xi noted in the article that “there has always been an affinity between Chinese and Serbian peoples despite the long distance between us. During the bitter Anti-Fascist War and our respective nation-building in the last century, the Chinese and Serbian peoples forged a strong friendship that extends through time and space.”
“Amid the ongoing transformations unseen in a century in the world, our mutual support remains as strong as ever, our cooperation is closer, and our exchanges and mutual learning more substantive. Whatever changes in the international landscape, China and Serbia remain true friends and good partners. Our ironclad friendship is ever-growing, setting a model for state-to-state and people-to-people interactions,” Xi wrote.
Xi said China and Serbia should always be good friends and treat each other with sincerity, good partners for win-win cooperation, play an exemplary role in promoting fairness and justice and strengthen the heart-to-heart connection between their two peoples.
With China’s support, hundreds of kilometers of highways have been built, the fastest railway in Eastern Europe entered operation, and energy facilities keep renewing, Boyan Lalic, Director of the Belt and Road Institute Belgrade, told the Global Times Wednesday.

(Latest Update May 10, 2024)