Chinese-built road to unleash eastern Serbia's tourism potential

Danube Corridor, a Chinese-built road in eastern Serbia, is expected not only to unleash the local tourism potential but also to enhance Serbia's connectivity with other countries, improving its investment environment.

Danube Corridor project under the framework of Belt and Road Initiative is an important expressway project in eastern Serbia, and will be fully opened by the end of next year.

The road connecting Pozarevac with Veliko Gradiste and Golubac in Serbia will interconnect this region and attract tourists and investors alike to eastern Serbia. Once completed, it will serve as a vital transportation artery, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic referred to it as the "Road of the Future."

Located on the northeastern border of Serbia, Golubac has a history that can be traced back to ancient Roman times. With its rich cultural and natural resources, Golubac attracts over 2 million visitors annually. Golubac Fortress is the most famous tourist destination.

After the opening of the Danube Corridor, the travel time from Belgrade to Golubac will be at least halved compared to the present. With the driving force of the corridor, the local area is actively promoting the construction of more urban and infrastructure facilities such as hotels and parking lots, as well as developing new tourism projects.

"We are building an archaeological park. It is currently under construction and will be completed next year. This site is located next to the Golubac Fortress, and there were people living here in the past. Everything is being prepared for next year," said Iskra Maksimovic, director of Golubac Fortress.

"We will also invest in more larger-scale infrastructure projects, two to three major projects. Local governments will lead the implementation of smaller projects," said Nebojsa Mijovic, mayor of Golubac.

The Danube Corridor is a 68-kilometer-long road connecting the European route E75 highway with the eastern part of the country.

Upon completion, it will ease the transportation bottleneck in the eastern region of Serbia and promote local economic development.

"For Serbia, it signifies the continuous improvement of infrastructure construction. I have emphasized multiple times that without strengthening infrastructure, there can be no economic development," said Sasa Pavlovic, mayor of Pozarevac.

"We have a deep understanding of what our Serbian friends need after 10 years of development in the local area. Therefore, we made full use of local resources in Serbia during the implementation of this project. We strictly adhere to the Belt and Road Initiative to push for deeper and more substantive development of the BRI," said Zhang Jianchao, chief engineer of China Shandong International Economic and Technical Cooperation Group Ltd.

Chinese-built road to unleash eastern Serbia's tourism potential

Chinese-built road to unleash eastern Serbia's tourism potential

Dominic Barton, chairman of leading global mining group Rio Tinto, warned against severing economic ties with China, saying it could lead to higher prices and slower development of new products and technologies, during an interview.

This comes as the White House announced on Tuesday new tariffs on imports of electric vehicles, solar cells and other clean-energy products from China, in a protectionist move widely believed to imperil the American ambition to enhance competitiveness and slash carbon emissions.

Many businesspersons are concerned that this newly announced tariff hike could damage global supply chains and lead to further decoupling of the U.S. from China.

During an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Barton voiced his opposition to decoupling, calling it an impractical approach.

"I think there's some legitimate reasons for resilience in supply chains, and we learned that from COVID in a way, too. Everyone, every country wants to make sure they have some resiliency. But we also need to remember that the foundations of a lot of the growth we've had in the global economy and bringing hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, is because we've had global supply chains. So this idea that we're going to decouple is just ridiculous in my view. It's ridiculous and it'll have very severe consequences. We have to be very careful of that and how we think about that balance," he said.

Barton emphasized the importance of global collaboration for efficient and affordable production, especially in the shift toward sustainable energy and technologies.

"I think the challenge is we don't have a deep enough understanding, the common person like myself, of how supply chains work. We are incredibly linked in what we do. One of the consequences of a less global supply chain is higher inflation. It's just a fact. And higher inflation is not good for anyone," he said.

"Second thing is innovation. If we're going to make this energy transition, we need the materials. We also need to produce the equipment, the technology to be able to do the transition. The solar panels, the electric vehicles, the batteries, and it's in everyone's interest that we have the most efficient, low-cost way of doing it. And so these are factors that we need to make sure we keep in mind in a more politicized environment, because there are real consequences to changing that," Barton added.

Decoupling with China carries risk of major disruptions: Rio Tinto chairman