Booming Serbia-China cooperation culminates in joint anti-pandemic fight: president

Cooperation between Serbia and China has marked stunning development in recent years and culminated in an efficient joint fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Saturday.

The friendship between the two countries has been "based on sincere friendship, solidarity, and respect," Vucic said at a press conference after meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo.

Serbia on Friday received the third shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from China, the president said. The first and second batches of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines reached the European country on Jan. 16 and Feb. 10 respectively.

"A year ago, when the corona epidemic broke out in our country, Serbia had great support from China, which delivered equipment, respirators, and people who have made two laboratories," Vucic recalled.

Noting that Serbia's exports to China increased by 15 times in the past five years, he said that China has become its third overall foreign trade partner.

Moreover, he praised the valuable upcoming investments of Chinese companies in Serbia, which are opening new factories and launching joint infrastructural projects.

For her part, Chen said that "despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, cooperation between the two countries is developing intensively," and praised the progress in large projects such as the Belgrade-Budapest high-speed railway project and the Belgrade-South Adriatic E-763 highway.

China makes its COVID-19 vaccines global public goods, she said, adding that there are talks between China and European Union countries on the procurement of the vaccines.