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Agreement on high-speed rail link Belgrade-Budapest

On the sidelines of China-Central & Eastern Europe summit

17 December, 16:18
(ANSA) - BELGRADE - Two cooperation agreements between the Railways of Serbia and Hungary towards the construction, thanks to Chinese funding, of a high-speed railway line between Budapest and Belgrade were signed today in Belgrade, on the sidelines of the summit between China and 16 Central and Eastern Europe countries, which is going to end today in the Serbian capital city. The signing of the documents took place in the presence of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Serbia's PM Aleksandar Vucic, Hungary's Viktor Orban and Macedonia's Nikola Gruevski.

The new high-speed rail link might be extended, in the future, to Macedonia and Greece. According to Li Keqiang, the new railway line will be a driver of economic development both in Serbia and Hungary, for the sake of the peoples of both countries, and of other countries in the region, both those which are EU members and those that are not EU members yet.

According to Li Keqiang, the new line may be ready within two years. Vucic spoke of a 'great and important day' for Serbia, since the project is aimed at promoting the industry and at creating new jobs. According to Serbian PM, by means of this high-speed rail link, the travel time between Belgrade and Budapest will be reduced 'from the current 8 hours to 2 hours and 40 minutes, a time which is shorter than a journey by car on the motorway (about 4 hours). At the end of the summit China-Central & Eastern Europe, Li Keqiang will be - this afternoon and until tomorrow - on his bilateral visit to Serbia.

(ANSA)
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