By Tian Xiaojun, Wang Man
Serbia, located in the Balkan Peninsula, is the first country in the Central and Eastern Europe to establish strategic partnership with China. China and Serbia have been maintaining good exchanges and cooperation in various fields. In recent years, the strategic partnership between China and Serbia has constantly upgraded. The good political relations and the mutually beneficial and pragmatic cooperation also show a momentum of rapid development. The governments and enterprises of the two countries actively explore new areas, new ways and new models for the development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation. When stabilizing and promoting bilateral trade, the two countries also explore investment potential, expand cooperation in infrastructure projects, promote bilateral economic and trade relations to a new level in a mutually beneficial and win-win situation and add new content to the strategic partnership between China and Serbia.
At present, the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has yielded fruitful results in many fields. In the area of project contracting, Chinese enterprises contracted to build the bridge project across the Danube River and the first and second Kostolac Power Plant project as well as the E763 highway project, which are all affirmed and praised by various parties. Among these projects, the bridge project across the Danube River, that is, the Zemun-Borca Bridge, newly renamed Pupin Bridge, is the first built in Europe by a Chinese company and is also the first new bridge on the Danube River in Serbia in recent 70 years. The bridge project is also the first bridge constructed by Chinese enterprises in Europe, which is regarded as “China’s First Bridge”. The completion of the bridge is the fruits of the friendship between China and Serbia. During the construction process, the Chinese equipment was used and the construction also promoted numerous local employments. The completion of the bridge facilitates the travel of the people on both sides of the Danube River and is conducive to the development of the local economy. The bridge is not only the bridge of the friendship of the people between China and Serbia, but also the bridge of mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation between China and Europe.
Huawei Technologies entered the Serbian market in 2005. At present, a variety of products and solutions of the company have achieved scale application in the Serbian telecom market. Such products include access network, core network, optical network, data communication bearing network, wireless, terminal and so on. With its own excellent technical strength and good brand, Huawei Technologies is gradually becoming the strategic partner of the top two telecom operators in Serbia and its network status and market share have increased rapidly.
In the field of infrastructure construction and production capacity cooperation, the launching ceremony of the Serbian section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway project was held in Novi Sad, the second biggest city in Serbia, on December 23, 2015. As China’s flagship project of trilateral cooperation with Serbia and Hungary, the Hungary-Serbia Railway marks the cooperation among China, Hungary and Serbia has taken a new and important step. It also shows that China’s pragmatic cooperation with countries in the Central and Eastern Europe is standing in a new historical starting point. This will vigorously promote regional infrastructure construction and connectivity, improve the well-being of local people and accelerate the process of European integration. Meanwhile, it will be conducive to better docking with the development strategy of Central Europe and deepening cooperation in international capacity and investment and other key areas between China and Europe so as to realize mutual benefit and win-win outcome.
On April 18 this year, Hebei Iron and Steel Group purchased Smederevo Steel Plant and will provide employment opportunities to 5,000 employees at the Steel Plant. Through necessary technological transformation, development of advanced production technology and advantages in operation management as well as a strong ability of controlling international market, Hebei Iron and Steel Group will make Smederevo Steel Plant a sample project of the international capacity cooperation between China and Central and Eastern Europe and will make it the most competitive steel enterprise in Europe.
At present, China is Serbia’s largest trading partner in Asia in terms of trade and investment. The Chinese products of high quality and low price are universally welcomed by local residents. In the capital Belgrade, the Chinese goods can be seen everywhere. Air conditioners made in China installed in the residential buildings can be found everywhere. In the meantime, Chinese enterprises are attracted by the favorable geographical position of Serbia and their willingness to invest has enhanced quickly. More and more Chinese companies are looking for investment opportunities in Serbia. They regard Serbia as the “bridgehead” of radiating Europe in the future, focus on the future and arrange the layout in advance to further expand the markets of Central and Eastern European countries, which include Serbia, and even the entire European market.
At present, Serbia is in an important stage of vigorously promoting the development and construction and revitalizing the national economy, relevant development planning and construction projects are to be implemented urgently and there exist huge gap of financing, technology and other elements. This is a good opportunity for Chinese enterprises to develop their businesses in Serbia. With the constant extension of “the Belt and Road Initiative”, the cooperation between China and Serbia and countries in Central and Eastern Europe will become closer and closer.
Source; China economic net
