Between aspiration and reality: Sino-Serbian economic relation

Zakić, Katarina and Stanojević, Nataša (2022) Between aspiration and reality: Sino-Serbian economic relation. In: China in World and Regional Politics. History and Modernity. Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ICCA RAS), pp. 298-311. ISBN 978-5-8381-0444-1

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Abstract

China and Serbia maintain active economic cooperation within the framework of two Chinese initiatives — Belt and Road and China-CEEC Coordination Mechanism. Since 2009, cooperation has constantly been growing, both in terms of trade and investment and, finally, in terms of financing various infrastructure projects through Chinese loans. Regardless of the two countries’ excellent, primarily political relations, it is necessary to objectively look at the actual economic forms of cooperation and options for their improvement. The methodology used in this paper is the qualitative analysis and descriptive statistics. Displayed results in the paper showed significant trade growth between China and Serbia, but also the accelerated degradation of the structure of Serbian exports. As investments in Serbia are concerned, Chinese companies have invested in the exploitation and processing of copper, steel, and automobile industry, which is of great importance for the Serbian economy, given that these are essential export sectors. Chinese loans were disbursed for the projects of Serbian infrastructure, which was outdated and devastated, and its renewal was necessary. The main recommendations for improving cooperation in trade are to increase Serbian exports to China through products with higher added value, and at the same time, it is necessary to negotiate the reduction or elimination of customs duties for certain product groups. Chinese investments in Serbia are successful, and infrastructure pro! ject works are going smoothly, with Serbia fulfilling its financial obligations to China.

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