Serbia, China May Sign FTA By End 2022

Trade & Policy

Serbia, China May Sign FTA By End 2022

At a recent meeting between the Chinese President Xi Jinping and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, a number of important issues were discussed including a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries. According to Vucic, Serbia and China would sign an FTA by the end of 2022 at the latest, stressing that “it will significantly increase trade between Serbia and China and additionally attract foreign investors to Serbia”. According to the official website of the Ministry of Commerce of China (MOFCOM), however, China has yet to launch the formal FTA negotiation with Serbia. A China-Serbia FTA has also not yet been included in the list of `FTAs under Consideration’. Analysts say it remains to be seen what the form of the agreement will be and what it will pertain to. In 2013, China and Serbia signed the Joint Statement on Deepening Strategic Partnership between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Serbia. In 2016, the two countries signed the Joint Statement on the Establishment of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Serbia. In the economic and trade area, China and Serbia have established a joint economic and trade committee mechanism between the two countries, as well as a bilateral Investment Protection Agreement, an Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement, an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement in the Field of Infrastructure, a Cultural Cooperation Agreement, and a Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreement. China is one of Serbia’s largest trading partners and its largest economic partner in Asia. Bilateral trade has accelerated rapidly in recent years despite economic slowdowns caused by the pandemic. According to statistics from China’s MOFCOM, bilateral trade between Serbia and China reached US$ 3.2 billion in 2021, at a growth rate 54.3% from the previous year. Of this, China’s exports to Serbia reached US$ 2.24 billion, up 37.9% from the previous year, while imports from Serbia reached US$ 995 million, up 99.7% from 2020. Serbia is a strategic Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) participant country and has signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Jointly Advancing the Belt and Road Initiative (2019) and the Plan for Bilateral Cooperation under the Framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (2018).