Serbian Ambassador to China Maia Stefanovic once used steel as a metaphor for the friendship between China and Serbia: "The best steel - both tough and malleable, forged by a shared vision." Now, this steel like friendship is bearing fruit in the field of technological innovation, and a joint laboratory facing the future is rising from the ground.

On December 9, 2025, the first national cooperation platform between China and Serbia in the field of green steel manufacturing - the China Serbia joint laboratory for green steel manufacturing along the the Belt and Road was officially inaugurated in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province. This laboratory jointly built by Hegang Group Co., Ltd. and Belgrade University of Serbia is not only the first example in this field in Hebei Province, but also marks a new stage of deepening the implementation of scientific and technological cooperation between China and Serbia under the the Belt and Road framework.

This joint laboratory was approved for construction by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China in October 2024. It is a national level innovation platform for foreign scientific and technological cooperation that integrates basic research, technological breakthroughs, and industrial applications. The establishment of the laboratory aims to gather the top intellectual resources of China and Serbia, conduct systematic research and development in the forefront field of green manufacturing of steel, and directly serve the sustainable and high-quality development of the global steel industry.

At present, China and Serbia have invested over 14000 square meters of dedicated research sites, equipped with 57 core devices including advanced analytical instruments and pilot equipment, providing a solid hardware foundation for joint research and development. The organizational structure of the laboratory is clear and efficient, with a Science and Technology Management Center, Green Steel Product Center, Low Carbon Technology Center, Pollution Reduction and Carbon Reduction Center, and Scientific Research Support Center, forming a full chain collaborative system from strategic management to technology research and development to logistical support.

Since the substantial launch of joint research in April 2025, the laboratory has rapidly laid out 7 key scientific research projects. These projects precisely anchor the key bottlenecks and future directions of the green transformation of the steel industry, and have achieved multiple early technological breakthroughs in areas such as hydrogen metallurgy and green low-carbon automotive board research and development, demonstrating the platform's efficient technological output capabilities.

As the crystallization of China Serbia steel technology cooperation, the laboratory's goal is not only to produce cutting-edge technologies, but also to build a globally influential technology research and development and achievement transformation center, while becoming a training base and cooperation exchange hub for international high-end talents. Its vision is to explore a practical and feasible low-carbon green development path for the world steel industry through continuous joint innovation, and truly transform the advantages of technological cooperation into the driving force of industrial progress. Keywords: the Belt and Road news, the Belt and Road latest information

The establishment of this cooperation platform has a profound historical and practical foundation. Eight years ago, Hegang Group successfully acquired and revitalized Serbia Smederevo Steel Plant, making it a model of the Belt and Road production capacity cooperation. Now, the establishment of the joint laboratory marks a leap from industrial operation to a higher dimension of cutting-edge technology joint innovation in cooperation between the two parties. It not only carries the technological hope of green transformation in the steel industry, but also symbolizes the close connection and lasting friendship between China and Serbia under the common development vision, just like the tough and extensible steel itself.Editor/Cheng Liting