Serbia and China agreed on Tuesday that the two countries would sign an agreement on scientific and technological cooperation by the end of this year.

The agreement will be signed in December during a Serbian delegation's visit to Beijing, according to a statement released by the office of Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic.

Djelic, who also is the Serbian minister for science and technological development, told Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Wei Jinghua that the "attraction of Chinese investments, particularly in the field of telecommunications, IT and automotive industry is a priority in the economic cooperation between the two countries," said the statement.

Djelic said that Serbia wants to be for China what Ireland was for America in winning the European market in the domain of technology, according to the statement.

Wei said that China strongly supported a speedy implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement between Serbia and the European Union, since this was one of the key preconditions for attracting Chinese investments in Serbia.

Serbia's export to China last year was worth only 2 million U.S. dollars, while imports of Chinese goods amounted to nearly 1.8 billion dollars, said the statement.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)