Top Chinese official tours power plant, steelmaker

Top Chinese official tours power plant, steelmaker

According to the Serbian government, Brnabic and Zhang, who is this week visiting Serbia, "pointed out that the trial work was underway and that a usage permit is expected to be obtained soon."

Brbanic recalled that the same Chinese company, CMEC, will build a new block with 350 megawatt capacity, "which will be significant for increasing the capacity of the Serbian energy sector."

"The Serbian government is cooperating with China on serious projects, and one of them is thermal electric power plant Kostolac," Brnabic said, and announced that she and the Chinese delegation would also visit steelmaker in Smederevo, owned by China's Hesteel - "one of the biggest successful projects of cooperation between the two countries."

In addition to these two projects, China and Serbia cooperate in a wide range of other projects, from tourism to infrastructure, while one of the most important projects is the modernization of the Belgrade-Budapest railway, as well as introduction of a direct flight between Belgrade and Beijing in the fall - "and a great progress has been achieved in cooperation in the field of agriculture and culture," Brnabic pointed out.

According to her, it is very important that Serbia is one of the central countries for China in the Road and Belt project, "and the fact that Serbia has just positioned itself as a central country for cooperation between the EU and China, which is a privilege and great incentive for our economy." Later in the day, Brnabic and Zhang toured the steel plant in Smederevo together with President of Hesteel Group Yu Yong.

During a meeting with the factory's and Hesteel Group, Brnabic pointed out that the government will continue to persistently fight for every job, as it did in the case of the steel mill, formerly known as Zelezara Smederevo.

"I am very pleased that I am visiting Zelezara, which symbolically represents a pillar of good cooperation, friendship and trust, she said and noted that this company represents one of the greatest successes of the government of Aleksandar Vucic. The government will continue to persistently fight for every job and for every partner. We are always at your disposal for any support and cooperation that is needed. Thank you for believing in Smederevo and in all of us," Brnabic said, according to remarks published by the Serbian government.

Yong "pointed out that Brnabic's visit gave an additional impetus for the further development of the Serbian steelworks and added that Hesteel Group will continue to develop Zelezara in order to again become the pride of the Serbian industry," the statement said.

According to him, the company that he is leading made profit in only six months after the takeover of the Smederevo steelworks, provided the best system for supplying intermediate goods and directed clients at the global level to the Serbian steelworks.

He pointed out that the Smederevo steelworks will surely realize the plan to have in 2017 a profit of EUR 20 million, noting that this year Hesteel Group will invest in the Serbian steel mill USD 120 million in improving the structure of production.

Zhang expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the Smederevo steelworks is doing well and that it is an example of successful cooperation between the two countries.