Beijing: Ambassador Stefanović's interview for Beijing News and China Pictorial

In the interview titled "We are an excellent example of cooperation between small and large countries", the ambassador highlighted the active cooperation between Serbia and China, which has been developing with equal intensity in the China-CEEC mechanism, as well as within the Belt and Road Initiative, from their very beginnings.

The ambassador conveyed that it was significant for Serbia that by participating in development projects initiated by China, it strengthened its own transport connectivity in the region, which was most eloquently demonstrated by the Belgrade-Budapest railway project, whose branch on the Belgrade-Novi Sad route had already become operational.   

The Belt and Road Initiative made Serbia more visible on the Chinese investment map, as evidenced by the investments of Zidjin, HBIS and other Chinese companies.

These Chinese investments helped the economic growth of Serbia and provided thousands of new jobs. Speaking about specific goals in economic cooperation with China, the ambassador stated that Serbia was committed to increasing food exports to the Chinese market, within that framework and developing cooperation in the field of digital economy, i.e. using e-commerce platforms through which it is possible to make our products more accessible to more Chinese consumers.

She particularly emphasised the work on achieving the Free Trade Agreement with China, which should further strengthen the economic and trade relations between the two countries. 

In response to the interest of China Pictorial magazine regarding our view of the Chinese Global Development Initiative, the ambassador said in a video interview to that magazine that we attached importance to all initiatives proposed by China, and we had supported that specific initiative during the visit to Serbia by the Chinese State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of China Wang Yi last year and we considered it an important framework for the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

"We especially hope for President Xi Jinping's visit to Serbia. We expect further improvement of cooperation in numerous areas, from agriculture to information technologies, green energy and the automotive industry, as well as the imminent conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement between our two countries," said the ambassador.