Welcome, President Xi, Let’s Talk Geopolitics — and Money

Hi, this is Misha Savic in Belgrade. Welcome to our weekly newsletter on what’s shaping economics and investments from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans. You can subscribe here.

You know the visitor is important when the Eurovision Song Contest is interrupted by the national broadcaster to show his plane landing. Chinese President Xi Jinping touched down in Belgrade this week to a hero’s welcome: “We’ll do everything to remain a loyal, responsible and sincere friend,” his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, said as they signed more than two dozen bilateral deals and pledged to upgrade their “strategic partnership” to a “community with a shared future.”