Serbian Parliament Speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, who is leading a parliamentary and business delegation to China, has stated that officials of the city of Chongqing emphasized Sunday a large potential for parliamentary and economic cooperation with Serbia, particularly in infrastructure and agriculture.

Djukic-Dejanovic told Tanjug that Chongqing parliament speaker and head of the local branch of the China Development Bank had informed the Serbian delegation of their intent to invest around USD 30 billion in the world.

"It is a sum that could affect significantly the economic position of the Western Balkans and Serbia," she underscored, adding that the project regarding Serbia's Kostolac power plant was particularly interesting and the focus of the meeting.

However, she stated that those are all potential investments and preliminary negotiations. Djukic-Dejanovic hopes Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, as the head of the government's mixed committee, will sign contracts on some of the agreements when he visits China.

She also pointed out the significance of parliamentary cooperation with Chongqing, which covers an area a little smaller than Serbia and is populated by 32 million people.

The city is the cultural centre of its region, with a number of foreign consulates situated in it. It sits on the confluence of the rivers Jialing and Yangtze and is one of the world's most populated cities.

The Serbian delegation will leave Chongqing and head for Shanghai, where they will meet Chinese parliament speaker Wu Bangguo.