24 January 2018

Council President Nikolić meets Vice-Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission

President of the National Council for Coordination of Cooperation with the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China Tomislav Nikolić had a meeting today with Vice-Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China Ning Jizhe. The talks centered on the ongoing projects and the possibility of running new ones.

Photograph: Council President Nikolić meets Vice-Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission

The collocutors expressed their satisfaction with the two countries’ past cooperation within the “One Belt One Road” initiative. They singled out the successful privatization of the Smederevo Steel Mill as an excellent example of concrete cooperation in the production field. The implementation of the Belgrade-Budapest rail project, which is of paramount importance to the region, will add fresh impetus to the “16 + 1” initiative, Mr. Ning Jizhe noted. “China highly values the cooperation it has with Serbia. In our view, Serbia is on the list of priority countries within the “One Belt One Road” initiative. The National Development and Reform Commission will continue to implement the projects agreed on by the two countries’ leaders”, he underlined.

Council President Nikolić emphasized the necessity of the soonest possible finalization of both the agreements concerning future works on the Belgrade-Subotica rail section, and the loan arrangements with the Export-Import Bank of China regarding the Ostružnica-Bubanj Potok section of the Belgrade bypass and the Preljina-Požega motorway section. The Sino-Serbian cooperation is on the upswing in all areas. Serbia finds the data testifying to an increase in its China-bound exports to be particularly encouraging. I would like to see more budget-replenishing projects, such as the Smederevo Steel Mill project, materializing in Serbia. “I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate President Xi Jinping, China’s National Development and Reform Commission, as well as the officials and the people of China, on extraordinary economic and reform successes achieved over the past 40 years”, Mr. Nikolić said.

The interlocutors also noted that the Chinese side would support consideration of the Danube-Morava-Vardar/Axios-Aegean Sea Canal construction, if Belgrade, Skopje and Athens consented to it, and if they offered cooperation, as this project would help to promote the European countries’ river network.