In the morning of December 18 local time, Premier Li Keqiang and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić of Serbia jointly attended the completion ceremony of the bridge across the Danube River in Belgrade.
The bridge across the Danube River in Belgrade is the first bridge project built by Chinese enterprises in Europe. The bridge is 1.5 kilometers in length and took 3 years to be completed. It is also the fist newly built bridge across the Danube River in Serbia over nearly seven decades.
When Li Keqiang and Vučić arrived, more than 20,000 citizens of Belgrade and constructors showed a warm welcome to them by waving Chinese and Serbian national flags. Li Keqiang had genial handshakes and communication with them.
Premier Li Keqiang and Prime Minister Vučić then jointly unveiled the monument marking the completion of the bridge, cut the ribbon for the opening of the bridge and delivered speeches.
Li Keqiang expressed gratitude and regards to all of the Chinese and Serbian personnel participating in the construction of the project. He said that the completion of the bridge is a fruit of China-Serbia friendship. The construction used equipments made in China and created substantial job opportunities in Serbia as well. The completion of the bridge highly facilitates the trips of people across the river banks and conduces to promoting the development of local economy. It is not only a friendship bridge linking hearts of Chinese and Serbian peoples, but also a cooperation bridge bringing mutual benefits and win-win results for China and Europe.
Li Keqiang said that China and the Central and Eastern European countries enjoy broad prospects of cooperation in infrastructure construction. During this visit, relevant countries signed the agreement of constructing the Serbia-Hungary Railway and aimed at completing the construction in two years. This will reduce the travel time by train between Belgrade and Bucharest from eight hours to two-odd hours. China is willing to actively participate in the infrastructure construction in Serbia and other countries. The construction will be in line with the standards of the European Union (EU), and the financing support will proceed within the legal framework of the EU. The construction aims to connect the Serbia-Hungary Railway with the Piraeus Port of Greece and build a land-sea express passage between China and Europe to strengthen connectivity, expand the trade scale between China and Europe and better achieve mutual benefits and win-win results.
Vučić said in his speech that it's an honor to attend the completion ceremony of the bridge across the Danube River with Premier Li Keqiang. The bridge is a symbol of Serbia-China friendship and fruit of Serbia-China cooperation. The Serbian government and people thank China's help and support, and are willing to work with China to push the friendly and all-round cooperation between the two countries to a new high.