Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and Azerbaijani Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev signed in Baku Thursday an agreement on a EUR 300 million Azerbaijani loan to complete a section of the road Corridor 11 in central Serbia.

After signing the document, Jeremic said an important step had been taken toward strengthening economic ties between Serbia and Azerbaijan. We started talking about building the highway a few months ago, and today we signed the agreement, said the Serbian foreign minister, who co-chairs with Mustafayev the Serbia-Azerbaijan joint committee for economic cooperation.

Jeremic told Tanjug that the Azerbaijani government had allocated significant resources from their state funds for the loan, under terms which, he said, were far more favorable than in the market.

“We will build together the road section from Ljig to Preljina. The works can begin almost immediately, all assets have been secured and when the highway is built, one will be able to reach Preljina from Ljig in less than half an hour,” he said.

According to Jeremic, it is a large-scale project, which includes the construction of 60 bridges, five tunnels and a significant investment in infrastructure in Serbia. He noted that a series of other important projects had also been discussed during his visit, and Azerbaijan had shown it was very interested in investing in agriculture, cooperation in the pharmaceutical industry and many other joint projects of mutual interest.

The Azerbaijani government has granted the loan to build the section from Ljig to Preljina at a fixed interest rate of four percent, to be paid off in 15 years with a grace period of three years, while the highway construction will be a joint venture between Serbian and Azerbaijani companies.

The loan agreement was tentatively agreed upon at the meeting of the joint Committee for economic cooperation between Serbia and Azerbaijan in Belgrade in November last year.