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Aleksandar Vucic greets Chinese leader at Belgrade Airport

The ceremony on the occasion of the visit of the 400-strong Chinese delegation will take place at Palata Srbije

BELGRADE, May 7. /TASS/. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic welcomed visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Belgrade in a ceremony broadcast by the Tanjug news agency.

The plane carrying the Chinese leader touched down around 9:35 p.m. local time (7:35 p.m. GMT) at Belgrade Airport, where Xi got a red carpet welcome from Vucic, Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic.

The welcome reception of the Chinese delegation, led by Xi, is scheduled for May 8 in Belgrade. The ceremony on the occasion of the visit of the 400-strong Chinese delegation will take place at Palata Srbije (Palace of Serbia). A festive dinner will also be organized, at which the Chinese President will taste traditional Serbian dishes and wines, as well as enjoy a musical program in Serbian and Chinese.

Earlier, the first plane carrying members of the Chinese delegation, ministers and representatives of various institutions, landed in Belgrade within the framework of Xi’s two-day visit to Serbia.

The Chinese leader will be in Serbia on May 7-8 for a state visit, which, as the Chinese Foreign Ministry pointed out earlier, will be an important milestone for improving and revitalizing Chinese-Serbian relations. The presidents are expected to discuss the international and regional situation, ways to get bilateral relations to a higher level, as well as will chart a course for the development of bilateral ties.

Xi began his visit on the day marking the anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade by NATO aircraft. Ahead of the visit, the Chinese leader pointed out in an article for Politika that China would not forget the attack on the diplomatic mission in 1999, which killed three Chinese journalists.

The Chinese leader arrived in Belgrade from the city of Tarbes in southwestern France, where he was on a three-day state visit.

Earlier, Serbian media reported that about 3,400 police officers would ensure the safety of the Chinese leader. Serbian and Chinese flags, as well as billboards with welcoming words in Serbian and Chinese can be seen all over Belgrade. Vucic earlier emphasized that the Chinese President's visit to Belgrade was of great importance for Serbia.

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