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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Nis-Skopje high-speed railway to improve relations between Serbia, North Macedonia

Belgrade, 17 November 2023

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovacevski attended today the signing of the Memorandum on cooperation between the relevant ministries of the two countries on the establishment of a high-performance railway network.

The Memorandum, signed by Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic and Minister of Transport and Communications of North Macedonia Blagoj Bocvarski, envisages the implementation of the project of construction of a high-speed railway from Nis to Skopje, for which the two countries will jointly seek funding from the European Union.

Brnabic said that the Memorandum signed, as well as the Second international wine fair "Wine Vision by Open Balkans", which opened yesterday, contribute to the improvement of relations between our friendly countries.

She added that Serbia is committed to the construction and improvement of the railway infrastructure, in which significant funds have been invested.

We have completed the high-speed railway between Belgrade and Novi Sad. By 2024, we will complete the section between Novi Sad and Subotica and the section from Belgrade to the Hungarian border. We expect that by the end of 2025, the Hungarian side will complete its section between Budapest and the border with Serbia, Brnabic pointed out.

We continue to invest in railway Corridor 10, by modernising the railway between Belgrade and Nis, added Brnabic, noting that the section to Skopje was discussed in the last few months, for which the Memorandum of Cooperation was signed today, and that in the coming period a joint working group will be formed and a clear action plan defined.

According to her, after that, we will continue to invest in the railway Corridor 10 to Skopje, and also to talk with partners from Greece for the railway to Thessaloniki and Athens, which is extremely important for Serbia.

She noted that during the past year, the exchange of goods between Serbia and North Macedonia reached an all-time high, amounting to €1.480 billion.

On this occasion, Brnabic invited Kovacevski to start promoting North Macedonia together with Serbia as early as tomorrow within the EXPO specialised world exposition, which will be held in Belgrade in 2027.

Kovacevski said that the Memorandum of Cooperation means the construction of a high-performance railway that will connect Belgrade and Skopje via Nis.

He pointed out that the intention is to build a completely new high-speed railway on Corridor 10 that will go from Skopje to Thessaloniki and then from Thessaloniki to Piraeus and Athens, and the commercial speed of this railway will be at least 160 kilometres per hour.

The Prime Minister of North Macedonia recalled that, thanks to the “Open Balkans” initiative, numerous benefits have been achieved, such as harmonisation and recognition of relevant certificates, which has led to an increase in the competitiveness of the region.