The European Union has granted Serbia €610 million ($647.15 million) for the construction of a fast railway line that will connect southern Serbia to central Europe. The grant was signed in a

train in the presence of EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, who said the move showed that the EU was keeping its promise to invest in the economies of the Western Balkans region. The 208-kilometre line will connect Belgrade, the Serbian capital, to the southern town of Nis, with the project estimated to cost €2.7 billion in total.

President Aleksandar Vucic said that the EU grant was the largest ever given to Serbia, which had received a total of €420 million in EU grants to date. He added that the new railway line would enable travellers from Nis to reach Budapest in less than five hours. The project will require Serbia to provide €525 million, with loans of €1.1 billion and €550 million from the EIB and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, respectively.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Varhelyi visited Belgrade for the signing ceremony a day after President Vucic attended talks in Brussels on a Western-backed deal aimed at normalising relations between Serbia and its former province of Kosovo. Reports suggest that Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti agreed on the deal, but they stated that further talks would be needed for its implementation. Photo by Almarq at en.wikipedia.