Vucic: China best partner for Serbia to achieve its national goals

BELGRADE - China is the best partner for Serbia to achieve its national goals, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Chinese television station CCTV ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Belgrade.

In an interview, Vucic said he had high hopes and expectations from Xi's visit despite the difficult situation Serbia was in.

China has always been on the side of international law and it has always supported Serbia, just like we have supported China, Vucic said, noting that Serbia strongly supported the One China principle.

"Taiwan is China - full stop," he said.

He noted that Xi's visit to Belgrade came at the right time and that they would discuss many topics.

"...President Xi, he keeps his word. I see him as just a regular, humble, modest man who does not promise a lot, but when he promises something, then he fulfills that."

"There are thousands of things that we can and should learn from our Chinese friends," Vucic said.

"We are going to be fully devoted to that visit, and I believe that we'll be able to deliver the very best results for the benefit and for the sake of Chinese people and Serbian people as well," he said.

He said it was time to raise bilateral relations to a new level, to a strategic partnership.

Vucic also said Serbia thought all the best about the cooperation with China and about the Chinese people, and added that he wanted to see as many Chinese business initiatives and Chinese tourists in Serbia as possible.

"And there is one very important thing. The free trade agreement that we signed in Beijing. That's a big deal for us, because now we have reached 6.1 bln (dollars of) overall trade exchange between our two countries. And I believe that we're going to double or triple it within 10 years, or even more than that, with this free trade agreement," Vucic said.