“中國(guó)與塞爾維亞簽署駕駛證互認(rèn)換領(lǐng)協(xié)議。根據(jù)協(xié)議，中國(guó)與塞爾維亞雙方承認(rèn)對(duì)方核發(fā)的有效駕駛證。”今年5月27日上午，在貝爾格萊德，塞爾維亞中國(guó)智慧文旅促進(jìn)會(huì)秘書(shū)長(zhǎng)、塞爾維亞瀧鼎升文旅集團(tuán)副總經(jīng)理步小勇，看著手機(jī)里彈出的這條推送，下意識(shí)地打開(kāi)了新浪微博……

“這條新聞，最高沖到了熱搜第三！”步小勇欣慰地說(shuō)。作為在塞爾維亞的華僑，近年來(lái)他看到了“一帶一路”給塞爾維亞帶來(lái)的變化，尤其這兩年來(lái)，甚至習(xí)慣了“每個(gè)月都能看到塞爾維亞上中國(guó)熱搜”。

這是中國(guó)政府首次與中東歐國(guó)家簽署此類協(xié)議，協(xié)議生效后，將進(jìn)一步便利雙方公民在對(duì)方國(guó)家工作生活，提高兩國(guó)經(jīng)貿(mào)合作和人文交往水平，有力服務(wù)共建“一帶一路”。

對(duì)他而言，這不過(guò)是“兩個(gè)老鐵間很小的一個(gè)福利”。事實(shí)上，兩國(guó)越來(lái)越緊密的關(guān)系，早已改變了他的人生規(guī)劃。

“我是2003年到塞爾維亞的，這之后的人生分兩個(gè)階段，2016年之前做生意，2017年之后做導(dǎo)游，契機(jī)就是2017年塞爾維亞對(duì)中國(guó)免簽！”步小勇說(shuō)，在2017年之前，塞爾維亞基本不存在對(duì)華旅游業(yè)一說(shuō)。當(dāng)時(shí)，他們的最大客源來(lái)自西歐。每到夏天，西歐客人就會(huì)來(lái)到這個(gè)歐洲“后花園”，享受陽(yáng)光美食和音樂(lè)，以及獨(dú)特的歷史人文。而中國(guó)客人，大多以西歐、北歐作為旅游目的地。但開(kāi)放免簽后，中國(guó)一下子成為塞爾維亞旅游市場(chǎng)的生力軍。到2019年，中國(guó)就一躍成為塞爾維亞的第一旅游客源國(guó)。

“正因如此，塞爾維亞從官方到民間，高度重視中國(guó)市場(chǎng)。西歐作為主要客源地，增量有限，但中國(guó)市場(chǎng)很有潛力，接下來(lái)很可能開(kāi)通直航，甚至推動(dòng)更全面的互惠合作！”視頻采訪中，步小勇指著身后一幢美麗的白色大樓說(shuō)，這是貝爾格萊德中國(guó)文化中心大廈，前身是中國(guó)駐南聯(lián)盟大使館。

此刻，戰(zhàn)火早已遠(yuǎn)去，城市洗凈滄桑，鮮花遍地怒放。

在中國(guó)旅行社集團(tuán)寧波有限公司歐美澳非負(fù)責(zé)人劉玲的眼中，步小勇還有個(gè)身份——寧波團(tuán)的塞爾維亞地接。

“以前我們寧波團(tuán)去塞爾維亞，基本上是塞爾維亞、波黑、黑山三國(guó)游13天。中國(guó)沒(méi)有直飛，需要從俄羅斯轉(zhuǎn)機(jī)，由于免簽，這塊業(yè)務(wù)增長(zhǎng)很快。雖然因?yàn)橐咔?，暫時(shí)耽擱了下來(lái)?！眲⒘嵴f(shuō)，現(xiàn)在塞爾維亞也正在全面接種中國(guó)疫苗，相信未來(lái)隨著全球疫情的逐步好轉(zhuǎn)，這塊市場(chǎng)會(huì)得到迅速?gòu)?fù)蘇?！跋乱徊?，我們會(huì)開(kāi)放塞爾維亞一國(guó)游的項(xiàng)目，并且結(jié)合駕照互認(rèn)，設(shè)計(jì)半自由行半自駕的項(xiàng)目，讓大家更為深入地探訪巴爾干半島美景。”

“塞爾維亞，我去過(guò)很多次??！”對(duì)于這一新聞，寧波市中東歐經(jīng)貿(mào)合作與文化交流促進(jìn)會(huì)會(huì)長(zhǎng)董麗君的第一反應(yīng)是，這將進(jìn)一步促進(jìn)雙方經(jīng)貿(mào)合作?！氨热?，在我們促進(jìn)會(huì)中，有會(huì)員在塞爾維亞投資了汽車零配件廠，產(chǎn)品直接出口到歐洲整車廠。現(xiàn)在塞爾維亞人、旅居華人、僑領(lǐng)在寧波工作的非常多。過(guò)去幾年，在他們的帶動(dòng)下，寧波商人到塞爾維亞的商務(wù)考察也逐漸常態(tài)化?！倍惥Φ?，互認(rèn)駕照以后，寧波人過(guò)去開(kāi)個(gè)公司，直接用中國(guó)的駕駛證自駕考察，還可以帶動(dòng)一些旅游項(xiàng)目。

董麗君介紹，由于塞爾維亞是農(nóng)業(yè)大國(guó)，對(duì)方希望有寧波企業(yè)前往投資開(kāi)發(fā)農(nóng)產(chǎn)品深加工產(chǎn)業(yè)，進(jìn)而利用寧波港口資源優(yōu)勢(shì)，以及博覽會(huì)、經(jīng)貿(mào)合作示范區(qū)等國(guó)家級(jí)平臺(tái)推動(dòng)對(duì)華出口。

“現(xiàn)在，這項(xiàng)工作已經(jīng)不斷向前推進(jìn)，比如塞爾維亞的特色水果酒、干果、不老莓汁、紅酒，寧波的進(jìn)口企業(yè)都有代理?！倍惥f(shuō)。

去年，寧波與塞爾維亞的雙邊貿(mào)易額為5.32億元，同比增長(zhǎng)29.3%。今年1至2月，寧波對(duì)塞爾維亞實(shí)現(xiàn)進(jìn)出口1.56億元，同比增長(zhǎng)185%，其中進(jìn)口增長(zhǎng)61.7%。

Trendy in China Every Month

“China and Serbia signed an agreement allowing mutual recognition and exchanges of the two country's driving licenses. Under the new deal， people with driving licenses from one side can drive or apply for new licenses without taking tests in the other country.” Reading the news alert on his phone， Bu Xiaoyong， secretary general of Serbia-China Smart Culture and Tourism Association， automatically opened the Sina Weibo app， the Chinese microblogging service platform， on his phone.

“It is in the third place on Weibos trendy topics list！” Bu said. As a Chinese expatriate living in Serbia， he has personally witnessed the changes brought about by the Belt and Road Imitative. In the past few years， Bu has been used to “Serbia on Weibos trendy topics list every single month”.

This is the first time that the Chinese government has signed such an agreement with a country from Central and Eastern Europe. Once into effect， it will make it easier for citizens of both sides to work and live in another country， enhance economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges， and provide strong support to the construction of the Belt and Road.

To Bu Xiaoyong， it was “just a small perk between two countries counting each other among their closest friends”. In fact， growing ties between them have already changed his life plans.

“I came to Serbia in 2003. After that， my life has been divided into two stages，” Bu recalled， “Doing business before 2016， and then working as a tour guide after 2017， when Serbia exempted visa to Chinese citizens.” Before 2017， there was no such thing as the China market in Serbian tourism， said Bu. At the time， the vast majority of tourists came from Western Europe， who came to this European “back garden” every summer to enjoy sunshine， food， music and its unique history and culture. Chinese tourists， on the contrary， flocked to Western Europe and Northern Europe.

Thanks to the visa-free policy， China suddenly became a new force in Serbias tourism market. By 2019， China became the number one source of tourists to Serbia.

“For this reason， from authorities to the general public， Serbia attaches great importance to the Chinese market， which has great potential in the future，” Bu said. “Next， direct flights are likely to be opened， and more comprehensive cooperation is expected！” In the video interview， Bu Xiaoyong pointed to a beautiful white building behind him： the Chinese Cultural Center in Belgrade， which used to house the Chinese Embassy in former Yugoslavia.

“In the past， as no direct flights were available， our Ningbo clients usually went to Serbia， Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro for 13 days，” said Liu Ling， a Ningbo-based travel agent in regular contact with Bu Xiaoyong， “Now， there is a growing demand to travel to Serbia because of its visa-free policy， despite disruptions by the COVID-19， and we are planning to offer Serbia-only services to tourists， so that they can fully enjoy the Balkan beauty.”

In 2020， bilateral trade between Ningbo and Serbia reached 532 million yuan， up 29.3 percent year-on-year. In January and February 2021， Ningbos import and export to Serbia climbed to 156 million yuan， a 185% year-on-year increase， of which import increased by 61.7%.