Serbia gets USD 5 million in grants from China

China will give Serbia USD 5 million in grants, Chinese President Xi Jinping said after talking with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, adding that Belgrade-Beijing relations were entering a completely new phase of intensive development.

- China is ready to deepen its strategic partnership with Serbia. We will support Serbia's government with USD 5 million worth of grants. In addition, we are willing to encourage Chinese companies to invest in Serbia, especially in infrastructure, agriculture, IT industry and energy - said Xi.

President Nikolic stated that "Serbia has projects, while China has a power to implement these projects together with us." He agreed that it is necessary to improve the mechanism of strategic dialogue, stressing that Serbia was willing to enhance cooperation with China in all domains.

China is Serbia's most important foreign policy partner in Asia. According to the information on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, the trade between the two countries was at USD 1.294 billion last year with Serbia's exports amounting to USD 18.4 million.