Chinese tire maker Linglong Tire officially launched tire production at its Serbian plant on Friday, the first in Europe, targeting the European market and annual exports of 500 million euros, Serbian state television (RTS) reported. “We didn’t have anything like this before. It’s a billion-dollar investment. A whole city has been built here.”Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said at the inauguration ceremony.
Construction of the Zrenjanin plant (north) began in 2019 and has created 1,200 jobs, Aleksandar Vucic said, adding that it was planned to employ 600 more people in the plant. “second phase” of the project. “In a year, this company will export [pour] 500 million euros [par an] and will be, according to this criterion, among the top three or four companies in our country.”he continued. “Linglong Europe plant is the first Chinese tire factory in Europe”welcomed the Chinese ambassador to Serbia, Li Ming.
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China invests heavily in the Balkans
China has invested billions of euros in the Balkans, particularly in mining, steel and manufacturing. In a sign of the strength of relations between Beijing and Belgrade, the two countries signed a free trade agreement in 2023 and Chinese President Xi Jinping spent 36 hours in Belgrade in May on his first trip to Europe since Covid-19 – after Paris and before Budapest. Production had already started quietly in Zrenjanin, with truck tyres since 2023, but Friday marks the start of large-scale manufacturing.
The construction of this factory was marked in 2021 by demonstrations by Serbian NGOs to denounce living conditions described as“inhuman” of several hundred Vietnamese workers who had worked on the site. The European Parliament had called on Serbia to investigate suspicions of “forced labor” and of “human trafficking”but the Serbian authorities had dismissed these accusations. Aleksandar Vucic spoke about these “114 complaints” Friday calling them “anti-China campaign” climb “from some Western countries”.
