The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, and the members of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with PR China, met today at the National Assembly House with a delegation of China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee, headed by its Chairman Wu Bangguo.

Greeting the VIP guest from China, the National Assembly Speaker pointed out that the visit is an expression of the traditional friendship and mutual efforts to further the two countries’ political and economic cooperation.

She stated that the signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement ushered in a new stage in the two countries’ relations. PR China, one of Serbia’s four foreign policy cornerstones, understands and lends firm and principled support to Serbia’s foreign policy goals, especially its territorial integrity and sovereignty, in line with international law.

Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic stressed that a more varied and intense interparliamentary cooperation, via parliamentary friendship groups and the two parliaments’ working bodies, should contribute to the further development of bilateral relations.

The Chairman of China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee stressed that China appreciates Serbia’s support of the “one China” policy and stated that China in turn supports Serbia’s sovereignty and understands its policy of approaching the European Union.

Chairman Wu Bangguo confirmed China’s readiness to strengthen commercial and economic cooperation with Serbia as the basis of overall relations, as well as encourage its entrepreneurs to invest in Serbia and continue the cooperation on infrastructural projects, power plants and in the sphere of high technologies.

Announcing that a Chinese cultural centre is to be opened in Serbia, aimed at stimulating cultural exchange, Wu Bangguo highlighted the need to intensify interparliamentary cooperation and invited the National Assembly Speaker to visit China next year.

The President of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with China, Prof. Dr Dragoljub Micunovic, expressed pleasure at China’s dynamic and contemporary development despite the global economic crisis. Micunovic pointed out that Serbia welcomes Chinese investments and proposed that they be used for joint export production, in view of the Chinese side’s high achievements in new technologies.