Ma Jiantang, Secretary of the Leading Party Members’ Group of the Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC), visited Turkey, Serbia and Hungary at the invitation of the Center for Strategic Research of Turkey (SAM), the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of Serbia and the Ministry of Finance of Hungary, to conduct special research on promoting high-quality building of the Belt and Road.

Ma met with Yavuz Selim Kiran, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, and Enver Iskurt, Vice minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Turkey Ma also visited the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) to advance bilateral economic and trade relations, promote the connecting of Belt and Road with Turkey’s “Middle Corridor” initiative and strengthen cooperation in infrastructure construction between the two countries.

In Serbia, Ma visited some projects constructed by Chinese enterprises and met with Zorana Mihajlović, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, and Vladimir Cvetković, Dean of the Faculty of Security Studies of the University of Belgrade. They exchanged views on connecting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with the Re-industrialization Strategy of Serbia, strengthening China-Serbia cooperation in infrastructure and promoting the institutional construction of BRI high-quality development.

Ma visited the Smederevo steel plant of the HBIS Group Serbia Iron & Steel Company during his stay in Serbia.

In Hungary, Ma met with Gyorgy Matolcsy, Governor of the Hungarian National Bank, Tamás Menczer, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Gabor Gion, State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance. They exchanged views on linking the Belt and Road Initiative with the Hungarian policy of “Eastern Opening”, the construction of the Hungary-Serbia railway, and the further strengthening of bilateral economic and trade cooperation. Ma also visited the Századvég Foundation and met with Gábor G. Fodor, Chairman of the foundation. They reached a consensus on deepening pragmatic cooperation between the two organizations.

Ma also met with Chinese ambassadors in the three countries during his visit.