Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia H.E. A. Brnabic led delegation in a multi-day visit to the People's Republic of China for the purpose of attending the 2nd China International Import Fair in Shanghai 3-8 November 2019. With the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping, President of France E. Macron, Prime Minister of Greece K. Micotakis and Prime Minister of Jamaica E. Holmes, Prime Minister Brnabic was one of the keynote speakers at the opening ceremony of the Fair. On that occasion, she conveyed that the Government of the Republic of Serbia wants to deepen cooperation with the People's Republic of China, as the two countries share the same economic vision of the 21st century - a vision of sustainable development, economic interdependence, balanced trade, as well as peaceful and mutually beneficial cooperation. After the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Brnabic toured the fairgrounds together with the leaders of other countries. The fair has brought together around 150 countries and 3,000 companies.
The greatest attention was paid to the bilateral meeting with the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping, during which the main discussed topics were the overall bilateral, economic and political relations of the two countries, as well as the joint contribution to the “Belt and Road” initiative. This meeting was another confirmation of excellent political relations between the two countries, which share a vision of a world that is open and free for the movement of people, goods, services and capital, a world free of barriers, as Premier Brnabic pointed out.
The delegation also visited the national booth of the Republic of Serbia that showcased mostly quality Serbian wines, dairy products, as well as organic aronia and truffle products.
Visit was continued by a series of meetings with Chinese officials and representatives of Huawei, HBIS and Bank of China, followed by Serbian - Chinese business forum during which Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Office of Information Technology and Electronic Governance and Huawei Technologies.
Premier Brnabic was also a guest of the prestigious Shanghai Jiaotong University, where she gave lecture in front of a large audience consisted of the Chinese and Serbian students. Brnabic spoke about the relations between Serbia and China, and also about our country's efforts to become one of the leaders in the development of innovative technologies.
The multi-day visit continued with a tour of the capital city of Zhejiang - Hangzhou, where Premier Brnabic met with provincial leadership - secretary of the CCP Provincial Committee Che Jun and Governor Yuan Jiajun, as well as with executives of one of China's most important companies - Alibaba, HikVision and of high-tech park Dreamtown.
Upon her return to Shanghai, Prime Minister Brnabic attended the opening ceremony of Marina Maljkovic's Basketball Academy, where girls from China, like their peers in Serbia, will be able to practice basketball for free. The visit to the district was also used for a tour of the port Wusongkou, the largest cruise ship dock in Asia.
The delegation of Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia included also President of the National Council for Cooperation with the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China T. Nikolic, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications R. Ljajic, Minister of Mining and Energy A. Antic, Minister in charge of Innovation and Technological Development N. Popovic, as well as the President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce M. Cadez.