Pedestrians walk past a Bank of China sign at its branch in Beijing, March 26, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

BELGRADE - Bank of China opened its branch in Serbia on Saturday, becoming the first Chinese bank starting operation in the country.

The official opening ceremony took place at Palace of Serbia, with presence of Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Chairman of Bank of China Tian Guoli, Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Li Manchang and members of the Serbian government.

Speaking at the ceremony, Tian said that the official launch of Bank of China Serbia in Belgrade is an important step taken by the bank to satisfy the growing demand of the economic cooperation between Serbia and China.

Bank of China will make further contribution to China's Belt and Road Initiative through its financial services.

"With the launch of Bank of China Serbia, we'd like to grasp the historic opportunity of deepening bilateral trade cooperation, make the best use of our advantages of internationalization, diversification and professionalization, serve clients of the two countries with better financial service, and contribute more to the bilateral trade development and financial cooperation," Tian said.

President Nikolic said at the ceremony, "I am thankful to the governments of both countries for their dedication to joint projects, of which the opening of the branch of the Bank of China is one of the most important."

Serbian Finance Minister Dusan Vujovic said that because of the opening of the new bank branch, the relations between the two countries have an opportunity to deepen even more.