Serbian PM looks forward to higher-level cooperation with China

Serbian Prime Minister Djuro Macut emphasized that Serbia is entering a new phase of high-level cooperation with China, aiming to deepen ties through advanced technology and shared development, following the elevation of bilateral relations to a “community with a shared future.”

China and Serbia decided to build a community with a shared future in May last year, an upgrade of their relations from the comprehensive strategic partnership established eight years ago. The decision was declared by visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, during their meeting in the Serbian capital.

When asked about the significance of this elevation of bilateral relations to future cooperation between the two countries, Macut said that this marks a new stage where the two countries will move ahead hand in hand to better promote their development.

“That means that we can step on in the new phase, which is let’s do something together and let’s improve the way of living, way of behaving in both countries. We are inspired by your development, let’s say, and we are really very quickly and very fast developing ourselves, especially in the infrastructure. So we are looking after the Chinese success in this, as I told you in the last few decades, and this is really inspiration for everyone,” he said.

“This is Serbia today. This is a country with lots of opportunities. We want to present the healthy country, the green area that could provide lots of healthy issues, but also very good opportunities for work, for the economy, different values that could be the matter of mutual trading, development in education, in health system, in artificial intelligence, etc,” said Macut.

The prime minister said that practical cooperation projects like the Serbian section of the Hungary-Serbia railway have proved that the country can better develop itself in the way that China did by learning its experience and technology.

Eying for the future development of Serbia-China relations, Macut said that he expects more cooperation in the sector of technology, which is China’s area of expertise.

“I believe that we came to the next phase of our relations. As I told today (Nov 6) in the talks with the companies from China, we have to go to the let’s say advanced technology level, because you are a so developed country with the such high technology. So I believe that we came to the new phase, and this phase will be, I truly believe, completed in the next decade. And that’s why we have to look far in front of us and to be very perspective in our relations,” he said.

Serbian Prime Minister Djuro Macut said small and trade-dependent economies are facing limited resilience to external shocks as uncertainty has dampened the world economy but expressed his optimism about the global economic outlook in an interview with China Media Group (CMG) in Shanghai which was aired Friday.

Macut was in China earlier this month to attend the eighth China International Import Expo. In the interview with CMG, he said it’s strong economic foundations that help China withstand global uncertainties.

According to the World Openness Report 2025 released on Nov 5 during the 8th Hongqiao International Economic Forum in Shanghai, the World Openness Index has been declining for several years and it is currently about 5-6 percent lower than the 2008 level, and has not yet recovered to the 2019 level.

“If you have a strong basis, then you can easily get out from the crisis that you fall inside not by yourself, but by the global situation approach or the global actions that are suddenly happening. As we know, we have lots of places in the world that are influencing heavily the economies. And the economy is always very sensitive to the global movements and global political changes,” he said.

The Serbian prime minister offered insight into the future of the world economy, saying his experience as a doctor taught him to stay positive when solving problems.

“I’m always the optimist, but let’s say the sustained optimist. I’m not the excited about something too much, because I know that after the huge excitement, it could be something going down. We have to be positive in the way of how to solve the problem. And this is the reason. This is my approach, my personal, this is actually coming from my profession as a doctor,” he said.

Macut, a 62-year-old endocrinologist, became Serbia’s new prime minister in April this year.