Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, who is currently on a visit to Guangdong Province in southeast China, has said that it is quite likely that China will be the biggest investor in Serbia in 2012.

“I believe that it is rational to expect that the biggest foreign investor in Serbia in 2012 will be China,” Jeremic told Tanjug. He is heading a Serbian business delegation composed of representatives of Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) and Telekom Srbija.

Jeremic recalled the signing of a protocol on cooperation between Serbia's EPS and a consortium of Chinese companies in building the Nikola Tesla B3 thermal power plant and realizing energy projects worth EUR 2 billion in total.

Noting that preparations for launching the project are underway, Jeremic said it would be “the first Chinese investment of this type in Europe,” which stirred great interest in China.

The investment “opened the door for further investment in Serbia and the business delegation I headed in China had talks about investment in the field of production of telecommunications equipment and other high technology products. This might be a really huge investment. I expect our expert teams could have the talks completed as early as by end of year,” Jeremic said.

He said that the political relations between China and Serbia were excellent and as such should be used to make vital progress in the economic cooperation.

Jeremic met with Guangdong's senior officials and representatives of the energy and telecommunications companies interested in investing in Serbia.

Guangdong Province is said to be China's most developed region, with a population of 140 million. Last year, Guangdong's financial revenue reached USD 780 billion, contributing approximately one seventh of China's national income.