Vucic returns from Beijing: day-one agenda focused on investments
The President of Serbia has ended a five-day visit to China, with a packed first-day agenda of meetings with ministers and a business delegation on investment memorandums worth hundreds of millions of euros.
- President Vucic has ended a five-day visit to China, with his return to Belgrade scheduled for 29 May.
- The first working day is devoted to meetings on investment memorandums and Tivat summit preparations.
- China announced a series of signed cooperation agreements, but operational details are not yet public.
- The opposition is asking for a hearing on the content of the memorandums and any energy commitments to Beijing.
Aleksandar Vucic, the President of the Republic of Serbia, has ended a five-day visit to China that concluded on 28 May in Beijing. According to his Cabinet’s protocol, his return to Belgrade is set for 29 May, with a packed schedule of meetings with ministers and a business delegation lined up for the first working day.
The Government of Serbia says the focus of day one will be the operational delivery of the cooperation memorandums signed in Beijing. Sources close to the government say the package is worth hundreds of millions of euros in infrastructure, energy and high technology.
Ministerial and business meetings
Scheduled activities include a meeting with Djordje Macut, the Prime Minister, alongside working sessions with the ministers of economy and finance. The focus, the Cabinet says, will be the delivery of agreed projects in Chinese industrial zones in Serbia, and the development of new ones.
The Serbian Chamber of Commerce announced a separate meeting with the Chinese corporate delegation that travelled with the president to Beijing. It includes representatives of companies in renewable energy, automotive and information technology.
What to expect in the next seven days
Serbia faces the EU-Western Balkans summit in Tivat, set for 5 June, which the president is expected to attend. Preparations for the summit appearance will also be part of the first day’s agenda, according to the protocol.
Opposition parties in the National Assembly have asked for a presidential hearing in parliament on the content of the signed memorandums. Ana Brnabic, the Speaker of the Assembly, has so far refused to open such a debate, citing the presidential foreign policy prerogative.
Memorandums of understanding are not international treaties and do not require ratification in the National Assembly, but parliamentary scrutiny of the executive is not limited to formal agreements, and a debate can be held on any matter of public interest.
There are also questions over energy cooperation in particular, given that Serbia is in parallel talks with Russia on extending the gas deal.
Political backdrop to the return
The president’s return from Beijing comes in a week when part of the Senjak case entered the public domain, and parliament debated 163 amendments to the electoral laws. Sources close to SNS say part of the first working day will be devoted to internal party coordination.
Milos Vucevic, presidential adviser and SNS president, returned earlier from Beijing with the delegation. By his account, the focus of the return agenda will be the business consequences of the visit, with intra-party details to be released in a separate statement.
Will the first-day agenda confirm the case that investment is the main outcome of the Beijing visit?
