Nikolic points to importance of cooperation with China

BELGRADE - Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic talked on Wednesday with Wang Hongwei, deputy general manager of the Export-Import Bank of China, who said that Serbia has a special place in China's program for South-East Europe (SEE).

Underscoring that he highly values the friendship with Serbia and the Serbian people, Wang noted that the funds from the program had been allocated for investment in infrastructure projects and those in the energy sector.

We are very interested in investing the first tranche of the funds earmarked for SEE countries, amounting to USD 500 million, in building roads, bridges, energy facilities and renewables, the deputy general manager of the Exim Bank said.

Nikolic underlined the importance of cooperation with China, noting that it is almost impossible to invest in major projects without cooperation with Chinese partners.

"So far, the Chinese investments have been realized quite successfully and I expect that they will be intensified even further," he said.

The cooperation with China will be improved even further after a new government is formed following the elections, the president's press service quoted Nikolic as saying.

Nikolic stressed that investments in projects constitute investments in the future of Serbia, and noted that, for over 10 years, loans had been taken to fill the state's budget deficit, instead of investing in economic growth.

Today, we are all paying dearly for the economic policy pursued by previous governments. That has to change, the Serbian president stressed.

Serbia is ready to propose its projects, as it is aware that China will go to some other SEE country, if it does not find an environment conducive to its investments...