Vucic: Serbia has received 600 mln euro grant for rail line section

BELGRADE - Serbia has received a 600 mln euro grant to build a section of a Belgrade-Nis high-speed rail line, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday, noting that train journeys between the two cities would take only 100 minutes in the future.

Addressing a press conference with EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi at Belgrade's Prokop train station, Vucic said the grant represented huge assistance from the EU.

"We are talking about one of the largest projects Serbia has ever embarked on - it is worth 2.775 bln euros," Vucic said after Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic and EIB regional director Alessandro Bragonzi signed an agreement on the first tranche of the grant, which is a part of a financial package for Railway Corridor X.

In the next ten years, Serbia will be trying to become not only the top country in the region when it comes to railways, but to keep up with Europe's most developed countries as well, he said.

"Serbia will be different, Serbia is changing for the better, becoming more orderly, more beautiful and safer," Vucic said, thanking the EU for the "fantastic gift."