November 28 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government said on Tuesday it started talks with China on the financing of a project for the construction of a motorway from Belgrade to the border with Montenegro.
The negotiations started immediately after the signing of a 450 million euro ($534.9 million) agreement with China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) for the design and construction of a 30.9 km motorway section between Preljina and Pozega on Monday, the government said in a statement.
The construction works on the Preljina-Pozega section are expected to start next year, the government said after a meeting of Serbian prime minister Ana Brnabic with Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang on the sidelines of the sixth Meeting of Heads of Government of China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) initiative, known as the 16+1 mechanism, held on Monday in Budapest, Hungary.
In May, the Serbian government said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with CCCC for the construction of the Preljina-Pozega and Pozega-Boljare sections of the motorway. The total length of the motorway on the territory of Serbia will be 58 kilometres.
Back then, the infrastructure ministry said it signed MoUs for infrastructure works with a combined value of 2.5 billion euro with China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and CCCC. The MoU with CRBC envisages cooperation in the project for the construction of Fruskogorski Corridor, a 123 km-long road in Serbia's Vojvodina autonomous province that will link pan-European transport corridors X and IV.
($ = 0.8413 euro)