Russian & Serbian PMs Urge to Speed Up Conclusion of Rail Agreement

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić have asked to speed up the signing of the Serbia-Russia agreement on the modernisation and construction of the Belgrade and suburbs railway network.

Sinara-Transport Machines Deputy General Director Anton Zubikhin voiced the proposal on the sidelines of the “Made in Russia” International Export Forum during the heads of governments’ tour of the exhibition.

He said that the project envisages the construction and modernisation of 222 km of railway tracks, 74 stations, and the supply of 39 electric trains within five years.

Belgrade Deputy Mayor Goran Vesic said in November that he expected the inter-agreement to be signed before the end of the year.

“At the moment, a draft intergovernmental agreement has been prepared, which has been accepted by both the Russian and the Serbian sides. And we are asking, if it is possible, to sign it next week,” the company's representative addressed the prime ministers.

For her part, Prime Minister Brnabić called the planned construction a “very important project."

“Belgrade Diameters” is a project to build an urban and suburban railway with a possible supply of Russian rolling stock and the construction of new suburban directions.

The Russian Ministry of Transport reported in early April that Russian Railways JSC jointly with the Sinara Group suggested organising intracity passenger traffic “Belgrade Diameters,” including the use of high-speed train of Russian assembly “Lastochka.” First Deputy Managing Director of the Russian Railways JSC Sergey Pavlov said at the time that the holding would calculate the cost of this project in 2021, which could be partially financed by a loan from Russia.

Moreover, Mishustin and Brnabić toured stands displaying equipment for geological prospecting, an emergency alert and personal call system for miners, products by a Russian manufacturer, fandomats (automatic machines for collecting empty consumer packaging for recycling), and digital equipment for radiation diagnostics. Heads of governments also visited stands of AI system developers for unmanned vehicles with high export potential as well as technologies, which allow extracting analytics about the condition and development of objects, territories and natural resources from space images. The unified digital environment service for export support was also presented.

“The year 2021 has been declared the Year of Science and Technology in Russia, which is why the focus of the exhibition is on knowledge-intensive, technologically advanced innovative solutions. These are products from various industries, such as mechanical engineering, industrial equipment, medicine, electronics and information technology,” REC Chief Executive Veronika Nikishina told the Russian Prime Minister.

During the exhibition tour, the Serbian prime minister asked clarifying questions, with explanations provided by both the companies' representatives and her Russian counterpart PM Mishustin.