Considering the growing presence of China in Serbia and deepening the overall bilateral relations, the main objective of the paper is to analyze the major trends and changes in the bilateral merchandise trade between both countries. The paper also focuses on exploring the main challenges as well as determinants for enhancement of trade relationships in the upcoming period. The total trade between Serbia and China has been steadily growing over the last decade. The value of total trade in 2019 compared to 2010 is increased by twice, the value of imported and exported goods grew twice and almost 45 times, respectively. Despite the rapid growth, the Trade Intensity Index shows that trade between Serbia and China is under-represented, implying there is a space for improvement. Some obstacles hinder trade relations between Serbia and China. One of the main challenges stems from the fact that China shares its influence in Serbia using investments rather than trade. On the other side, Serbia does not have enough capacity to meet Chines market demand, which is among other things is a result of the domination of low value-added products in the total Serbian exports. In order to overcome the obstacles, Serbia should focus on its comparative advantage as well as attracting the Chinese investment in the strategically important sectors. Furthermore, it is essential for Serbia to develop a strategic approach to trade policy towards China, which implies better promoting of export growth, relevant support of Serbian exporters as well as more active engagement around trade matters during official negotiations with China.

Before the onset of the global economic crisis (2007), SEE countries generally focused their activities on attracting investment from developed and affluent European countries. The financial crisis has significantly affected the inflow of foreign investment, so that some Southeast European countries have become very attractive destinations for Chinese companies and their investments. This is precisely the period when Chinese companies received a clear signal from their home country to take advantage of the financial crisis that hit European countries, to diversify their investments and increase their market share. Due to lack of investment, Serbia opened its market and received fresh Chinese capital. The aim of this paper is to present the global distribution of Chinese investments, with particular reference to the importance they have for the Serbian economy. In order to get a clearer picture of the current situation, the secondary data for the period 2013-2019 years are used in the analysis, both regionally and globally. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that Serbia is currently the largest recipient of Chinese investments in the region, and in the upcoming period, the trend of Chinese investments growth is expected to be continued, which will further contribute to the development of the Serbian economy.

Water scarcity is a growing concern across the globe due to climate change and demands for increased economic development. This paper analyses the relationship between economic development and freshwater abstraction in order to investigate its European impact. The analysis focuses on a total of 19 European countries, including 18 EU member states and one candidate, from 2007 to 2018. Using a panel dataset, the impact of a diverse selection of indicators of economic development (per capita GDP, the Human Development Index - HDI, water productivity and volume of international trade) on freshwater abstraction, our analysis finds that all explanatory variables are significant for cross-country variations except for international trade. To maintain scope, the analysis is limited to economicdevelopment indicators themselves, excluding the effects of climate change and the availability of water resources.

The development of trade relations between the PRC of China and the 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) from 2000-2022 are the subject of this research. Through the application of a gravity model, the factors that directly contribute to increased trade are examined, specifically examining the impact of CEE countries' participation in the “16+1” initiative. Empirical results show economic growth in the PRC and CEE, including CEE member-state status in the EU, has had a positive significant impact on developing bilateral trade between the PRC and CEE for all total trade (TT) (when viewed as dependent variables), as well as CEE imports to the PRC (IM) and CEE exports the PRC (EX). Participation in the "16+1" initiative is found to have contributed to increased trade only when CEE exports to the PRC were the dependent variable. However, when compared to EU membership, participation in “16+1” was found to be less significant.