Chinese FM calls on China, Serbia to jointly safeguard legitimate rights, interests of developing countries

Serbian National Assembly Speaker Ivica Dacic (R) meets with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Belgrade, Serbia, Oct. 27, 2021. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

BELGRADE, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- China and Serbia should continue to stand firmly together on major issues of rights and wrongs and jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Wednesday.

At a meeting with Serbian National Assembly Speaker Ivica Dacic, Wang thanked Dacic for his China tour during the COVID-19 pandemic last year, and conveyed to him warm regards from China's top legislator Li Zhanshu.

The friendship with China has become a consensus across party lines in Serbia, and the iron-clad friendship between the two countries has been widely recognized and supported by the 1.4-billion Chinese people, Wang said.

China and Serbia should jointly uphold the basic norms governing international relations and promote international fairness and justice, he said.

The cooperation between legislative bodies is an important part of bilateral relations, Wang said, noting that Li and Dacic reached vital consensus during a video conference earlier this year.

The two sides have kept close contact and conducted exchanges over state governance, legislatorial supervision and national development strategies, providing legislative and policy support for bilateral cooperation in diverse fields.

Dacic, for his part, spoke highly of the mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual support between Serbia and China, adding that the Serbian people are the most sincere friends of the Chinese people.

He said Serbia is firmly committed to developing friendly cooperation with China and ready to actively promote all-round cooperation between the two countries through high-level exchanges of visits between their legislative bodies and exchanges on ways of governance, so as to play a more positive role for the comprehensive development of bilateral ties.