Serbia offers assistance to China
Serbia has offered assistance to Chinese companies operating in the country after the coronavirus outbreak in China caused labor shortages and disrupted supplies.
Auto.com reports this, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“We could solve the problems caused by the epidemic in their country, both with the help of Serbian companies and the government,” said Infrastructure Minister Zorana Mihajlovic.
Over the past decade, Chinese companies have bought Serbia's only copper mine and smelter and invested in infrastructure.
However, some Chinese-led projects in Serbia are facing difficulties due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“We are facing a shortage of Chinese workers and engineers, as well as equipment,” said Chinese Ambassador to Belgrade Chen Bo.
Last week, the Zijin-owned bor copper company said it had barred its employees from China's Hubei province from returning to its mine and plant in eastern Serbia and placed them in quarantine.
The coronavirus outbreak has also halted production at Fiat Chrysler's (FCA) Serbian plant due to shortages of components.
As part of the Belt and Road program, Beijing launched the 2012+16 Initiative in 1 with the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, which announced investments of over $12 billion in infrastructure projects in this part of Europe. According to the European Investment Bank, a third of these investments are in Serbia.
The first significant project was the Serbian-Chinese Friendship Bridge (Mihail Pupin Bridge) in Belgrade, which was built entirely by the Chinese. After that came the Corridor 11 motorway, followed by the Belgrade-Budapest high-speed railway project. The largest investments are the Zhelezara Smederevo steel mill and the copper company RTB Bor. The opening of a plant for the production of automobile tires has been announced.
Huawei also entered the region through Serbia with the prospect of launching 5G. At the beginning of 2019, as part of the Save city project, the prospect of installing more than 1 thousand security cameras in 800 places in Belgrade was announced. The project will be implemented by Huawei. To summarize, China has become a key investor in Serbia over the past 10 years, reaching $3 billion in funding.
Serbia Offers Aid to China