Bank of China coming to Serbia – Abolition of visas for China in early 2017

The ambassador of China to Belgrade, Li Manchang, has announced the opening of the Bank of China in Belgrade.

– I have not told this to the prime minister yet – the Bank of China is to open here soon – the ambassador said.

He added that decades of friendship between Serbia and China would be improved by the abolition of visas and that the final deadline for it was early 2017.

– As the ambassador of China to Serbia, I place Serbia first. Serbia is the country in which China has built its first bridge in Europe, as well as the first country in which China is building its first high-speed railway. The first country with which China has established an all-encompassing strategic partnership in Europe is, again, Serbia. This is why, following the visit of our president this June, Chinese delegations are arriving en masse. This has all caused more Chinese to be coming to Serbia and more Serbs, our friends, to go to China. Naturally, the time has come for us to see how we can facilitate mutual visits for regular people, business people, enterprises and companies – Manchang said.

He expects the official agreement between the two countries to be signed in November, following which it will come into effect.

– I believe it's realistic for this to happen early next year – Manchang said.

Serbia is becoming increasingly more attractive to Chinese tourists. In 2011, around 3,500 people from China visited Serbia, and, in the first half of 2016, there were around 10,000 of them. The ambassador says that around 600 visas are issued each month and 7,000 each year. As he says, these are mostly visas for tourists and businessmen.

Ambasada NR Kine Beograd

Embassy of China in Belgrade

Li Manchang

Bank of China

abolition of visas for China