The Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Goran Vesić, after the meeting with the Hungarian Minister of Construction and Transport, János Lázár, in Budapest, said that the two countries will send invitations to Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Greece and Turkey to join the construction of a high-speed railway in the region, which will first connect Budapest and Belgrade, and later Niš and Preševo, reported MIA’s correspondent in Belgrade.

We discussed the extension of the high-speed railway to Niš, and later to the Macedonian border. We agreed to jointly sign an initiative and send an invitation to the transport ministers of Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania and Greece to discuss the continuation of the high-speed railway to Albania, that is, through Macedonia to Greece and through Bulgaria to Istanbul, so that the high-speed railway would really make sense and would connect our two countries with the Turkish and Greek coasts for passenger and cargo traffic, Vesić told reporters after the meeting with János.

Vesić pointed out that this initiative coincides with the Open Balkans initiative and that, when it comes to rail traffic, it can be a kind of “Open Balkans Plus”.

It is important for us to connect with Skopje and Tirana, Thessaloniki and Istanbul, it is also important for the Hungarians because the railway will be used for transporting goods, not only for passenger traffic, said Vesić and added that the railway makes logical sense after construction to Preševo to continue south.