Chinese President Xi Jinping sends envoy to attend inauguration of Serbian president

BELGRADE - At the invitation of the Republic of Serbia, Ji Bingxuan, special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, attended the inauguration ceremony of the newly-elected Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic here on Friday.

Ji, also vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, China's top legislature, conveyed President Xi's congratulation and good wishes to Vucic, saying China and Serbia are good friends able to share weal and woe, and the ties between the two countries are at their highest point.

China is willing to boost mutual political trust along with Serbia and deepen pragmatic cooperation taking the Belt and Road Initiative as an opportunity, said the envoy.

He noted that the two sides should well implement the projects in the fields such as infrastructure and energy to promote progress of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Vucic thanked President Xi for sending an envoy to attend his inauguration and asked Ji to convey his greetings to President Xi.

The Serbian president said Serbia and China enjoyed a deep and long friendship, and achieved a lot in cooperation.

Serbia will continue to give priority to developing the relationship with China and will play an active role in the Belt and Road Initiative so that the cooperation between the two sides can be further enhanced in all fields and bilateral ties can be lifted to a higher level.

Vucic, former prime minister of Serbia, won the April 2 presidential election and assumed office on May 31.

Ji also met the speaker of the Serbian parliament Maja Gojkovic.