BEIJING, May 14 (Reporter Gan Tian) "I took the train connecting Belgrade and Novi Sad. It was a very pleasant experience, because it only took 28 minutes to get to Novi Sad. If there is no train, you have to take a bus or public bus, which will take more than an hour."
Recently, in an interview with chinanews. com, Ivona Rajvac, Deputy Director of the Serbian Institute of International Political Economy, talked about the Hungarian Cypriot railway, highly appreciated it in combination with his own experience, and called it fast and convenient.
Information picture: On March 17, passengers took high-speed railway from Novi Sad to Belgrade. Photographed by Ren Weiyun
The Hungary Serbia Railway, which connects Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, and Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is nearly 350 kilometers long. It is a landmark project of the Belt and Road Initiative jointly built by China and Central and Eastern European countries. The Beno Section of Hungary Serbia Railway is about 80km long and will be put into operation on March 19, 2022.
Rajvac introduced to the reporter of China News Network that under the framework of the "Belt and Road" initiative, several cooperation projects in the field of infrastructure between Serbia and China have been launched one after another. Belgrade has built the Zemun Borca Bridge across the Danube River, which greatly facilitates the travel of local people; Smederevo Steel Plant, once in trouble and on the verge of bankruptcy, also regained its vitality and vigor, and more than 5000 employees facing unemployment returned to the workshop.
She pointed out that these projects are of "very important significance" for improving the quality of life of the Serbian people and promoting regional development.
Data shows that in recent years, the practical cooperation between China and Serbia has been upgraded, and the economic and trade cooperation has yielded fruitful results. The bilateral trade volume between China and Serbia jumped from 596 million dollars in 2016 to 4.35 billion dollars in 2023. In 2022, China will become Serbia's largest source of direct investment.
In Rajewaz's view, the story of the friendship between Serbia and China has been continuing and is enduring. She pointed out that as early as the former Yugoslavia, the two sides had forged deep friendship; After the outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese side provided many batches of medical protection materials to the Serbian side, and also sent expert teams to Serbia.
"Thanks to the strong friendship with China, the living standard of the Serbian people has been constantly improved," Rajvac said.
The picture shows Ivona Rajewarts. Photo source: pictures provided by respondents
At the same time, the number of mutual visits between China and Serbia has grown rapidly. "Chinese fever" and "Chinese culture fever" have continued to heat up in Serbia. The number of local students studying Chinese has continued to increase, and the number of Chinese universities that have opened Serbian has also increased significantly. At present, the Belgrade Chinese Cultural Center has begun to operate.
Rajvac said that it is extremely important to expand people to people and cultural cooperation between Serbia and China. Both sides can support two-way exchanges between scholars and students. Serbian people should also visit China more to learn about local culture. She also expects that the two countries will continue to promote cooperation in tourism, agriculture and artificial intelligence.
At the end of the interview, Rajwarts expressed his expectations and wishes for Serbia China relations. She said that in Serbia, some people would use "the sky is the only limit" to describe a deep friendship or relationship, but in her opinion, Serbia China relations have a broader and brighter prospect than this. She believed that Serbia China cooperation will continue to flourish and usher in a better future. (End)
