Macut opens Serbian National Pavilion at Shanghai expo

SHANGHAI - Serbian PM Djuro Macut opened the Serbian National Pavilion at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Wednesday.

He said Serbia should focus on showcasing healthy food and food products as it had great potential in that field.

"The companies that are presenting their products here are, in fact, a product of what Serbia has - healthy food and a healthy environment. That is Serbia's comparative advantage over the majority of countries in the world, and I hope our businesspeople will make use of that," Macut said.

Macut said he was pleased to be heading a Serbian state delegation and opening one of 63 pavilions at the Shanghai expo.

"I hope our economic presence, as well as any other presence, will become more dominant here and that the friendly relations and the steely friendship built between our two countries will, in fact, help to continue this cooperation," Macut said.

After a tour of the pavilion, Macut said Serbia was extremely well presented at the event.

"Serbia maintains a high ranking that it has, which reflects the symbolic steely friendship that exists between our two states and has been established by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic," Macut said, adding that, at the ceremonial opening of the pavilion, Serbia had had an opportunity to present itself to leaders of several countries that were attending the Shanghai expo - PMs and senate and parliament speakers.

"We had an opportunity to point out where Serbia is and what our expectations and capabilities are," Macut noted.

He said his meeting with the Chinese PM on Tuesday had addressed several topics.

"They were topics we are already very familiar with - support for infrastructure projects, as well as modernisation of relations in a broader sense. We also need to get into other spheres - social spheres - and into everything that can connect our countries. Above all, that is agriculture and the manufacturing industry," Macut said, noting that education, medicine and tourism also held potential for cooperation.