For Miroslav Milovanovic, a Serbian living in Belgrade, traveling from the capital to Novi Sad to meet his girlfriend had been a rather unromantic experience, the bus ride taking up to three hours.

Traveling by train could halve the time, but at 40 kilometers an hour, that trip was not exactly lightning-fast either.

That all changed two years ago when a high-speed train with a designed top speed of 200 km/h came into service, cutting the journey to just half an hour, making Milovanovic's long-distance relationship a lot sweeter, and saving thousands of commuters who live and work in the two cities a lot of heartache.

In the high-speed railway's two years of operation, nearly 7 million passenger trips have been made on the section, and an average of 62 passenger trains are operated every day, with peak daily passenger volume reaching 15,059, said China Railway International Group, the company that heads the Chinese consortium responsible for its construction.

The 80-km Belgrade-Novi Sad railway is part of the 342-km Belgrade-Budapest high-speed railway linking Serbia and Hungary, a key Belt and Road Initiative project. Once brought into full operation, the railway will reduce travel time between the capitals from eight hours to just three.

Serbia was among the first supporters of the initiative, and the country has reinforced its ties with China since the inception of the BRI in 2013, underlining how it has paved the way for common prosperity.

Duan Wei, deputy chief engineer of the Chinese joint venture, who has been working on the Serbian section of the railway project since August 2017, has witnessed the changes.

"As the high-speed train has shortened travel time, it has facilitated the movement of people and cargo, driving the development of trade and tourism along the line," he said.

"The opening of the route has also created jobs because building and running the railway requires a lot of labor, including workers, technical personnel, station staff and train attendants."

Locals are extremely hospitable toward Chinese working on the project, he said.

"In fact, many people turn up at our construction sites with water and home-cooked food for the workers."

On April 25, the Belgrade-Budapest railway project reached a notable milestone, when track-laying for the Novi Sad-Subotica section, another Chinese-built section, was completed in the Serbian city of Backa Topola.

Addressing the event, Milos Vucevic, prime minister of Serbia, said the project serves as a testament to the ironclad friendship between China and Serbia.

"When we pose such a question: What has the ironclad friendship between China and Serbia brought us? Or, what benefits have the China-Serbia comprehensive strategic partnership brought us? Then the railway project represents the best and the most detailed answer," he said.

"It is the proof in practice of the agreements between leaders of the two countries. It is also the manifestation that even the most seemingly unattainable dreams can be realized with determination," he added.

Duan said the completion of the track-laying signifies that the Novi Sad-Subotica section has completed most of its construction tasks and entered comprehensive testing, laying a solid foundation for the goal of opening the line to traffic by the end of the year.

Apart from the Serbian section of the railway, dubbed the first railway in collaboration between China and Serbia under the BRI, there is the "first bridge", the Zemun-Borca Bridge, and the "first highway", the E-763 Expressway, all of which have helped Serbia improve its infrastructure and regional connectivity.

Chinese investment in Serbia goes far beyond transport infrastructure to take in a great deal of modern manufacturing and trade in services.

HBIS Group Serbia Iron and Steel, the first fully integrated steel company acquired by a Chinese company overseas, has emerged as a prominent producer of steel, hot and cold rolled products and tin plates in southeastern Europe. The company, with operations in Smederevo and Sabac, forecasts a production capacity of up to 2.2 million metric tons of finished products a year.

In more than a decade, trade between China and Serbia has quadrupled, while Chinese investment in Serbia has increased sixtyfold, according to Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Li Ming. China has held its position as the second-largest trading partner of Serbia for many years, Li added.

On Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping began his state visit to France, Serbia and Hungary. The trip also marks his second visit to Serbia in eight years.

Ivona Ladjevac, deputy director and a senior research fellow of the Institute of International Politics and Economics in Belgrade, highlighted the visit as highly significant.

"I consider the visit as the event of high significance which sends a powerful message to the rest of the world. Namely, it is not usual for a Chinese president to visit one country two times in eight years. So, one can realize how China values its cooperation with Serbia in all aspects: political, economic and cultural," Ladjevac said.