Serbia and China will sign the Free Trade Agreement, which will cover 10,412 products and 8,930 from the Chinese side. Such agreements are also planned with Egypt and the Emirates, which indicates the need to look for new markets for Serbian goods in addition to European ones.
In the last 10 years, Serbia has increased its exports to China 185 times and exceeds 1.2 billion dollars, while two Chinese companies in Serbia are the largest exporters. Trade exchange with China exceeds six billion dollars, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced on Monday after his arrival in Beijing.
A good connoisseur of the Chinese economy and Serbian-Chinese relations, foreign policy commentator Borislav Korkodelović spoke earlier for “Sputnik” about the importance of that agreement for our country.
On that occasion, he reminded that China has 24 free trade agreements, 16 of which have been signed and are being implemented. They are in different stages of negotiations, and one of these is the one with the Gulf countries that has been in negotiations since July 2004, which, he noted, was especially discussed during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia last December .
He also explained that the advantage is that domestic or foreign companies operating in Serbia enter a huge market of 1.4 billion inhabitants with a large middle class of at least 400 million people who want to have access to foreign goods, especially from Europe.
High technologies – a big chance
The focus of the agreement with China is also the high technology sector, which Korkodelović pointed out represents a great opportunity. Because of the American threat, China will invest large amounts of money in high technologies, close to 200 billion dollars a year,” said our interlocutor.
He explained that China’s high-tech sector is in a huge boom and that it will be even more so because China is almost forced to do so, because the US perceives China as the main competitor in the coming decades and a kind of security threat due to strong economic development.
China, as he pointed out, is practically the leading power when it comes to three quarters of new high technologies, which was recognized by the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy, a scientific institution that many consider to be an extended arm of the military-industrial complex, primarily in the US and anti-Chinese are in the mood.
“They found that China is outperforming the US in 37 of 44 cutting-edge technologies that are thought to drive innovation, growth, military power, in the coming decades.” This is primarily about artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, modern industry and quantum technology”, specified Korkodelović.
Let us remind you that the Agreement on Free Trade with China became relevant after the meeting of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing, at the beginning of February last year.
At that time, it was reported that the President of China instructed his Ministry of Trade to continue and quickly conclude talks on a free trade agreement with the Government of Serbia.
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