Serbia's trade minister hailed China as a key economic partner, underscoring the growing cooperation between the two countries in trade, innovation, and foreign direct investment (FDI) while in east China's Zhejiang Province to promote economic relations.
Jagoda Lazarevic, Serbian Minister of Domestic and Foreign Trade, is attending the ongoing 4th China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Expo and International Consumer Goods Fair in Zhejiang's Ningbo City.
This year's CEEC Expo has placed a spotlight on Serbia, with its national pavilion showcasing a diverse range of products including handcrafted aromatherapy oils, traditional spirits, and specialty coffee.
In an exclusive interview with CGTN at the event, Lazarevic highlighted the importance of Serbia's participation in the China-CEEC cooperation mechanism.
"We've been very, very attached. Serbia is a country, as a part of the mechanism of the cooperation between China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. For us, it's a must as a standard. But however, I'm happy to see some of our neighbors, some of the countries from the central and eastern part, reengaging in this mechanism. This is a positive signal for China, for Europe as well," she said.
The China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which came into effect last year, marked China's first FTA with a country in the central and eastern regions of Europe -- a development seen as a milestone in bilateral relations.
"Taking into consideration the overall relationship with China, I believe that this pilot FTA has a special importance and I would use the term, it has more weight than with other European partners. Looking overall at the level and what we have achieved so far in the past ten years with China in different areas of economic cooperation, when we talk about trade, we already have a very positive trend. We've been seeing a tremendous increase of the commodities trade volume between Serbia and China and especially Serbian exports," said Lazarevic.
She pointed to a strong upward trend in trade volume between the two nations, particularly in Serbian exports, despite global trade disruptions.
"In the age of trade disruption, you have the supply chain disruptions, you have the tariff war, everything hindering dramatically the trade flow globally. In Europe, again, a lot of challenges. So we need to diversify, and in the case of Serbia-China, apart from having this very, very positive trend of the increase of the trade, we have another parallel positive trend, a major increase of the FDI coming from China. Also the diversification of the FDI is very evident. So in different sectors, the mining, energy, automotive sector, different industries, we see this trend of diversification expanding and expanding," she said.
Taking into account Serbia's strong ties with both China and the EU, Lazarevic addressed how the country navigates its diplomatic and economic relationships across competing interests.
"Very often we have pressures coming from different sides, but however, we stay fully committed because we are those choosing our partners and friends and choosing the countries that we really want to enhance the cooperation both on political and economic part. We rely on our relations to the EU, but however, it will not hinder us of having and increasing the cooperation with other key partners. It is a very complicated playing field. But as I said, both in politics and economy, we stay committed to our foreign policy, to our economic policy, making the bridges with a lot of countries, very committed to our partners in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe as well, everywhere," she said.
The expo will run from May 22 until 25. The exhibits include over 8,000 kinds of products from Central and Eastern European countries and a variety of Chinese consumer goods for exports.
A total of 435 companies from 14 Central and Eastern European countries and 9 other European countries including the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy are exhibiting their products in the exhibition. Over 3,000 overseas buyers from 72 countries and regions have registered for the expo.
China-Serbia ties deepen through trade, innovation, investment: Serbian trade minister
