OFFICIAL DELEGATION OF THE CITY OF NANCHANG VISITS NOVI SAD — MEETING ON WETLAND PROTECTION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The City Council member for Ecology, Energy Efficiency, and Environmental Protection Vanja Petković together with the Mayor’s advisers Siniša Stojšin and Petar Đurđev, received an official delegation from the Chinese city of Nanchang at the City Hall. The delegation was headed by Jiang Xinhong, Deputy Mayor of Nanchang. They were hosted at a working meeting in the Council Hall on the occasion of their visit to Novi Sad from November 25 to 26. After the meeting, a visit was organized to the Special Nature Reserve “Kovilj–Petrovaradin Marsh,” which holds the international Ramsar Wetland City accreditation, as well as a tour of the Kovilj Monastery.

City Council member Vanja Petković emphasized that the meeting was held in the spirit of the latest initiatives in the field of international cooperation.

- Mayor of Novi Sad, Žarko Mićin, has just returned from the major conference ‘Global Mayor’s Dialogue 2025,’ held in Nanjing, with the participation of mayors and representatives of cities from around the world. The event focused on the exchange of best practices in urban development, sustainability, cultural heritage management, and strengthening international cooperation. Special emphasis was placed on cultural heritage protection, green development, smart technologies, and the challenges faced by cities located along major rivers. Today’s meeting follows the spirit of those discussions, obliging us to continue exchanging best practices and strengthening cooperation between our cities, especially in the field of environmental protection. This is also the year in which we celebrate 70 years of friendship between the peoples of Serbia and China, which makes our dialogue even more meaningful. Novi Sad’s cooperation with cities of the People’s Republic of China has a long tradition. Only in the past month, City Hall has hosted a delegation from Beijing, headed by Deputy Mayor Wan Xian, while the long-standing partnership with our sister city Changchun, established in 1981, continues to grow through new joint initiatives - Petković stated.

As highlighted at the meeting, Novi Sad has been intensively developing its infrastructure over the past 13 years from investments in communal and transport networks, to the construction of new schools, hospitals, and kindergartens, as well as improvements in green areas and environmental protection measures. Companies from China are actively participating in the construction of three new bridges in Novi Sad, and the construction of the city’s fifteenth factory, opened by a company from Shanghai’s automotive industry, will soon begin.

The Nanchang delegation and their hosts agreed that there is strong potential for deepening cooperation in wetland protection, energy efficiency, and the application of smart technologies in sustainable resource management.

Novi Sad, November 26, 2025