From September 6 to 7, 2011, Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying, at invitation, headed a delegation to Podgorica, capital of Montenegro and held consultations at the vice foreign ministerial level with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Nebojsa Kaludjerovic. President of Montenegro Filip Vujanović and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Milan Roćen also met with the Chinese delegation. Chinese Ambassador to Montenegro Zhi Zhaolin was present at the meetings.

Consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Montenegro

Fu said that China is very glad to see political stability and economic growth of Montenegro. The two countries enjoy sound bilateral relations, mutual political trust and favorable conditions of bilateral cooperation.

Meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Milan Roćen

The Montenegro side spoke highly of the bilateral friendly relations and believes the mutual visits between the two countries in recent years further promoted the bilateral friendly cooperation. Montenegro admires China's development achievements and attaches importance to China's increasingly important role in the international community. It hopes to learn from China's development experience and expand cooperation with China and particularly expects the Chinese businesses to invest in its infrastructure construction, tourism, sea transportation and telecommunications sectors.

Meeting with President of Montenegro Filip Vujanović

Fu said that during Premier Wen's visit to Hungary not long ago he put forward the guiding opinions on developing China's economic and trade investment cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries and sent out positive signals. China-Montenegro economic and trade relations grow very fast. The bilateral trade volume increased by nearly 40% in the first half of this year. However, the bilateral trade is still small and has a big room of further growth. China attaches importance to the aspiration of Montenegro of cooperating with China on infrastructure construction and tourism. Chinese businesses have both technologies and strength, but they are not very familiar with Montenegro and other countries in the region. The governments of both countries can facilitate the business cooperation and discuss financing arrangements. Countries in the region are expected to strengthen the planning of transportation network so as to make them more attractive to Chinese businesses. China is also willing to discuss with the EU about how to jointly participate in the infrastructure construction of Central and Eastern European countries. Montenegro has unique tourism resources and the Adriatic Sea boasts beautiful scenery, which will be very attractive to Chinese tourists. She hopes Montenegro takes an active part in the various exhibitions in China to promote its competitive products, investment opportunities and tourism resources.

The two sides also exchanged opinions on enhancing cultural exchanges and the cooperation between the foreign ministries of the two countries as well as other regional and international issues of common concern.

During her stay in Montenegro, Fu also met with President of the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro Srdjan Milic and received the written interview of a Montenegro newspaper The Day.