Serbia's Assistant Minister of Finance Zoran Cirovic expressed expectation Saturday that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will give the green light for a USD 800 million loan to Serbian Railways when he visits Belgrade on March 23.

Cirovic told Tanjug that after Putin gives his support, talks on the arrangement could resume in early April, and reminded that the money would be invested in the reconstruction of the Serbian section of the railway line from Belgrade to the Montenegrin port of Bar, the completion of the Belgrade railway junction and the railway line from Valjevo to Loznica.

Financial terms are still undefined, and the Russian side should be a lot more specific about the cost of the loan and the participation of Serbian and Russian contractors at the meetings following Putin's visit, Cirovic noted.

Serbia has the obligation to finish the project documentation and cost estimate in the first half of the year, and the CIP Transport Institute is working on this with the support of the Ministry and Serbian Railways, he said.

The talks on the loan have been stalled by the lack of documentation, which the Russians insisted on, according to Cirovic.

The assistance finance minister said that the projects have been prioritized according to how much of the project documentation has been completed, and that the Valjevo-Loznica railway line is first, followed by the Belgrade railway junction and finally the reconstruction of the Belgrade-Bar line.

In the European Agreement on Main International Railway Lines (AGC), the Belgrade-Bar line is listed in category E of international railway lines.