President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, are welcomed on Tuesday by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (front, second from right) and his wife, Tamara Vucic (front, right), upon their arrival at Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade, capital of Serbia. WANG ZHUANGFEI / CHINA DAILY

Before the start of his state visit to Serbia, the second leg of his current three-nation European tour, President Xi Jinping said he looks forward to meeting Serbian leaders and friends to renew the friendship between the two countries and explore ways of cooperation.

"This will be my second visit to your country, a land of beauty and legends, as President of the People's Republic of China. The sweet scenes that prevailed during my last visit eight years ago remain very much alive in my mind," Xi wrote in a signed article published in the Serbian newspaper Politika on Tuesday.

Xi said he will work with his Serbian friends during his visit to "bring out the best in our ironclad friendship and take real efforts to deliver more benefits to our two peoples, advance world peace and development, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind".

He said the long-lasting friendship and win-win cooperation between China and Serbia make it clear that a stronger bilateral relationship conforms with the trend of history and serves the best interests of the two peoples.

Last year, China was Serbia's largest source of foreign investment and its second-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade volume registering at $4.35 billion.

In 2016, a century-old Serbian steel mill that was about to slide into bankruptcy made a remarkable comeback after receiving Chinese investment through the deepening high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between China and Serbia. The mill has now become one of the three biggest export companies in Serbia.

Xi said the thriving cooperation between the two countries in trade and economic relations, industrial chain and infrastructure development gives a great boost to their respective process of modernization.

"On the new journey of the new era, the China-Serbia comprehensive strategic partnership has more potential for further growth," he wrote, calling on the two countries to always be good friends and good partners.

The Chinese and Serbian peoples, though far apart geographically, have forged a strong friendship during the bitter Anti-Fascist War and their respective nation-building in the last century.

"Amid the ongoing transformations unseen in a century in the world, our mutual support remains as strong as ever, our cooperation is closer, and our exchanges and mutual learning more substantive," Xi wrote.

Xi called on China and Serbia, which hold similar positions on many major international and regional issues, to play an exemplary role in promoting fairness and justice.

Multilateralism stressed

"Facing a fluid and turbulent world, … we should practice true multilateralism, and endeavor to maintain world peace and stability and safeguard international fairness and justice," he wrote.

The Chinese president also stressed the need to promote multidimensional people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and diversify subnational cooperation between the two countries for their friendship to shine even brighter.

"We should create more opportunities for our youth so that the China-Serbia friendship will be carried forward from generation to generation," he wrote.

As this year marks the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of the former Chinese embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999 which killed three Chinese journalists, Xi said Chinese people cherish peace, and will never allow such tragic history to repeat.

"The China-Serbia friendship, forged with the blood of our compatriots, will stay in the shared memory of the Chinese and Serbian peoples, and will inspire us to march forward with big strides," he wrote.

Just like flowers in spring will turn into fruit in autumn, Xi said the tree of the China-Serbia friendship will grow tall and sturdy and bear more fruit for the two peoples.

"This is what we expect and what we hope to witness together," he wrote.