Serbia an example to follow, says Xi
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PRESIDENT Xi Jinping said yesterday that his country’s relations with Serbia should serve as an example for other nations in central and southeast Europe where China is seeking to boost ties.
Xi was touring the Zelezara Smederevo steel plant at the end of three-day visit to Serbia before leaving for Poland. He was cheered by flag-waving workers at the plant, recently bought by a Chinese steel giant.
Xi will sign deals on finance, aviation, science and education in Poland, which has sought to develop trade and business ties with a country it sees as a large market.
China and Serbia have signed a strategic partnership deal and 21 other agreements in trade, infrastructure and other fields as officials pledged to further improve ties.
“Let Chinese-Serbian cooperation set a good example for cooperation with other nations of central and eastern Europe,” Xi said in Smederevo.
He said Serbia could play a significant role in China’s plan for a new “Silk Road” to boost trade with Europe, Asia and Africa.
China’s One Belt, One Road initiative, intended to open new trade links for Chinese firms, envisages a new Silk Road from western China to Central Asia and on to Europe via the Balkans, a region keen to attract Chinese investment.
Addressing workers and officials at the steel plant, Xi said: “We are developing the One Belt, One Road project ... with its position and advantages Serbia will have a significant place in this.”
China’s Hebei Iron and Steel Group signed a 46 million euro (US$52 million) deal in April to buy the loss-making Zelezara Smederevo plant, a 100-year-old company that was part of US Steel during the early years of this century before being handed over to the Serbian government.
Hesteel Chairman Yong Yu said his company would make the plant one of the most competitive in Europe.
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Chinese investors will turn the plant into “the best European steelworks.”
One of the employees, Sasa Jakovljevic, hailed Xi’s visit as a “historic day” for him and his family.
“We expect our steel plant to start working normally. We expect the town to revive and things to get much better,” he said.
Vucic said Serbia was in talks with China on setting up a free trade zone on Smederevo, a city on the banks of the Danube a short distance from Belgrade.
Vucic also invited Chinese companies to invest in Serbia’s copper and petrochemical industries.
Since China and Serbia signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2009, China has invested more than US$1 billion in the country, mostly in soft loans for infrastructure and energy projects.
Xi arrived in Poland yesterday.
He is also scheduled to visit Uzbekistan for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
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