BELGRADE, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - Serbian President Boris Tadic will sign a strategic partnership deal with China during his official visit to Beijing, which starts on Thursday, the president's official website reported.
Tadic will be accompanied by Serbia's deputy prime minister and economy minister, Mladan Dinkic, and its foreign minister, Vuk Jeremic, for the August 20-25 trip to China.
"President Tadic will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday, and hold talks with Premier Wen Jiabao and parliament speaker Wu Bangguo on Friday," the statement said.
The Serbian president is also due to attend investment forums in Beijing and Shanghai in a bid to boost bilateral economic and trade ties, the China Daily said.
The agenda of the bilateral talks will include a discussion on the situation in Kosovo, which unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008. China is among the majority of states that have not recognized Kosovo as independent.
"China has proved to be a strong ally and partner" on the Kosovo issue, Tadic said, adding that Beijing should become "the fourth pillar" in Serbia's foreign policy, together with Washington, Brussels and Moscow.
The talks will cover a wide range of other issues, including bilateral cooperation in the spheres of investment, infrastructure development, information technology, pharmaceutics, metallurgy and agriculture.
