On June 18, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Serbia, and attended a grand ceremony held by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic. They held talks amid a friendly atmosphere to reach an extensive common consensus.

They declared jointly to lift bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership level, while both had witnessed the signing of a series bilateral cooperation documents involving industrial capacity, finance and infrastructure construction.

Nikolic decorated Xi with the Order of the Republic of Serbia, the highest honor bestowed by Serbia to extend gratitude to the Chinese president for his outstanding contributions to advancing the bilateral ties. Xi also held meetings with Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. Since the two nations established a strategic partnership in 2009, bilateral relations have accelerated.

Both sides have unanimously agreed to upgrade bilateral relations to comprehensive strategic partnership to revitalize a traditional friendship between China and Serbia.

It comes at the right time, which would be beneficial for docking the two nations development strategy and enhance cooperation under the "Belt and Road" Initiative.

The two sides can enjoy all-around cooperation, which symbolize that the two nations have opened a new chapter of their traditional friendship, setting a good example for cooperation between China and other Central-Eastern European countries.

The author is Xu Xiujun, deputy director of International Politics and Economics Department, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.