The President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, arrived in Serbia on Tuesday evening.

Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan landed at the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport at around 9.45 pm.

The red carpet was rolled out for them and the Serbian Army guard of honour was lined up at the airport in their honour.

They were greeted at the airport by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his wife Tamara, President of the National Council for Coordination of Cooperation with the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China Tomislav Nikolic, Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, Foreign Minister Marko Djuric and Serbian Parliament speaker Ana Brnabic.

The delegation also included Serbian Ambassador to China Maja Stefanovic and Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Li Ming with his wife.

Upon entering Serbian airspace, Xi’s plane was escorted by MiG-29 fighters.

Dozens of Chinese people gathered outside the airport building to welcome their president, waving Chinese and Serbian flags and singing.

Following a two-day visit to France, Xi arrived in Belgrade with a delegation consisting of 400 members at the invitation of Serbian President Vucic, with whom he will discuss advancing bilateral relations and cooperation.

Members of the Chinese delegation – ministers and representatives of Chinese institutions, were welcomed Tuesday afternoon at the Belgrade airport by Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali and Minister of Domestic and Foreign Trade Tomislav Momirovic.

A ceremonial welcome will be staged in front of the Palace of Serbia in New Belgrade on Wednesday, followed by Xi’s meeting with Vucic, a plenary meeting of the delegations and the signing of a joint statement and exchange of bilateral documents.

The Serbian Government adopted Tuesday several documents – memorandums of understanding on cooperation and protocols between Serbia and China in the fields of infrastructure, agriculture, information and telecommunications, and tourism.