Selaković talks with the Foreign Minister of China

08. Apr 2022.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selaković spoke today by phone with the State Councillor and Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China Wang Yi.

Minister Selaković said that Serbia was proud of its “steel friendship” and overall strategic partnership with China, highlighting its readiness to further strengthen cooperation with China in all areas.

He particularly emphasised that the excellent relations between the two countries were reinforced by the friendship and cooperation between their two presidents, Aleksandar Vučić and Xi Jinping, and stated that Serbia would be highly honoured to receive President Xi as a guest when conditions are right.

Minister Selaković expressed his gratitude for China’s unambiguous and unwavering support to Serbia with respect to Kosovo and Metohija, both bilaterally and in international organisations. He also stressed Serbia’s unambiguous support to the One China policy and the One Country, Two Systems principle, and to China’s fight against separatism. 

Minister Selaković highlighted that Serbia was placing major importance on the Chinese President’s Belt and Road initiative and the China-CEEC cooperation mechanism, looking forward to the 10th year anniversary of the establishment of this mechanism.  In this regard, Minister Selaković said that Serbia’s active participation in the China-CEEC mechanism and the Belt and Road initiative had considerably contributed to the arrival of Chinese investments in Serbia.

Noting that the bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries had intensified, Minister Selaković spoke about the importance of Chinese investments and joint infrastructure projects, emphasising that Serbia had an interest in opening direct Belgrade-Beijing and Belgrade-Shanghai airlines as soon as possible.

Minister Selaković said that the trade between Serbia and China had exceeded 5 billion USD during the preceding year, while Serbia’s export had reached the all-time highest amount of almost 1 billion USD, which is a 152% increase over the last 10 years.

Ministers Yi and Selaković agreed that the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries would enable further development of trade and improve Serbia’s role in the region.

Minister Yi congratulated Minister Selaković on the successful presidential and parliamentary elections in Serbia, the victory of President Aleksandar Vučić and the election success of the Serbian Progressive Party. He also conveyed President Xi’s compliments and congratulatory messages to President Vučić.