China-built railway to significantly facilitate travel between Belgrade, Subotica: Vucic

The Serbian section of the Belgrade-Budapest railway line, constructed by a consortium of two Chinese companies and set to commence operations by the end of 2024, will almost cut the travel time by half between capital Belgrade and northern city Subotica, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit to the European country.

The railway section is part of the 350-km-long Belgrade-Budapest railway, which is one of the flagship projects of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and a result of the deepening of the cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs).

The Serbian president expressed thankfulness to China's efforts to help his country promote the travel efficiency in an exclusive interview with the China Central Television (CCTV) in Belgrade on Tuesday, just days before Xi starts his state visits to France, Serbia and Hungary from May 5 to 10.

"I believe that Chinese company is [Chinese companies are] really amazing. They work in three shifts which you can see very rarely in today's Europe. They're doing a terrific job and they're going to finish their job till the end of September, early October. Then you have those fast speed tests, which will be done by Deutsche Bahn and some others. (It is) important for the citizens of Serbia, not only Serbia, to travel from Belgrade to Subotica within one hour 15 minutes, which is amazing, which is great. If you go from the city center of Belgrade to the city center of Subotica, you need at least two hours by car, even if you drive very fast. But this one hour and 15 minutes, and enjoying the landscape, enjoying beautiful Chinese trains and everything else. As you can see, you cannot even mention all good news, all different spheres, all different fields of our cooperation. But this is something that we (have) dreamed together from 2015. And now these dreams are coming true. I'm profoundly grateful to President Xi and our Chinese friends," said Vucic.

In October 2023, Vucic led a large government delegation to China to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, with the hope to sign a free trade agreement (FTA).

On Oct. 17, 2023, under the joint witness of President Xi and President Vucic, the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement was officially signed, marking the first one inked by China with a country from Central and Eastern Europe.

The FTA negotiation was launched in April 2023 and substantially completed in September. The process took merely five months thanks to the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, reflecting the high degree of political mutual trust between the two sides.

The first bridge built by a Chinese company in Europe is in Serbia, and the first highway built by a Chinese company in Europe is also in Serbia. The Belgrade-Budapest railway, China's first high-speed railway in Europe, started in Serbian capital Belgrade.

In Vucic's view, these projects result from the pragmatic cooperation between China and Serbia and are rooted in the two countries' long-lasting iron-clad friendship amid the changing international landscape.

China-built railway to significantly facilitate travel between Belgrade, Subotica: Vucic

China-built railway to significantly facilitate travel between Belgrade, Subotica: Vucic

China-built railway to significantly facilitate travel between Belgrade, Subotica: Vucic

China-built railway to significantly facilitate travel between Belgrade, Subotica: Vucic

Former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has called for proposing more initiatives as global governance has reached a "dead end".

Speaking in an exclusive interview with China Media Group (CMG) aired on Friday, Raffarin stressed the urgency of improving global governance with new initiatives when commenting on China's three international initiatives.

"I think it is crucial to propose initiatives for global governance. Today, we have somehow reached a dead end regarding global governance as it is facing obstacles and often lopsided. Therefore, I think it's important to find new perspectives and to propose new ideas. The difficulty we face today is that tension, often military tension, which is spreading in many countries, prevents the world from contemplating the future calmly and with confidence," said Raffarin.

The former French prime minister acknowledged China's proactive role in proposing new ideas and initiatives, emphasizing the necessity of a peaceful world for such endeavors to succeed.

"China is right to propose new ideas and initiatives, but for that, we need a peaceful world. We need a Europe at peace. We need an African continent at peace. We need countries that can focus more on cooperation than tensions. This is today’s great challenge: more cooperation and less tension, " said Raffain.

The three international initiatives proposed by China are the Global Development Initiative, The Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative.

The Global Development Initiative, first proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2021, aims to steer global development toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated and inclusive growth. Xi later put forward the Global Security Initiative in 2022 and in March last year announced the Global Civilization Initiative.

Former French PM calls for more initiatives as global governance reaches stalemate