First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic received today a courtesy call from the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China, Li Manchang, following taking up his new appointment in the Republic of Serbia.

The interlocutors agreed that relations between the two countries had reached the highest point in the last several decades and had been continuously improving on the basis of their established strategic partnership. They underscored the importance of further promotion of the political dialogue and exchanges at the highest level.

Minister Dacic emphasized that Serbia-China relations had been traditionally friendly and characterized by mutual trust, respect and support regarding the most important issues of interest to both countries and peoples. He used the occasion to thank the Chinese Government and its citizens for their sizeable assistance in alleviating the consequences of recent heavy floods that affected Serbia.

The Serbian Foreign Minister said that Serbia was fully supportive of the China-Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) cooperation mechanism, stressing in this context the importance of joint infrastructural and energy projects of regional interest as well, like the construction of Obrenovac-Ljic highway or the modernization of the Belgrade-Budapest railway.

Ambassador Li pointed out that China paid great attention to the enhancement of its cooperation with Serbia in all areas, saying that during his tenure he would make an effort to fully contribute to the promotion of their bilateral relations, especially in the economic field, including through the mechanism of cooperation between China and 16 CEE countries.