Talks on the Russian USD 800 million loan for the Serbian railway have been completed in Moscow, and the protocol should be signed in the next ten days, whereas the final agreement on the loan will be signed in the fall, State Secretary at the Serbian Finance Ministry Goran Radosavljevic told Tanjug Wednesday.

Specific projects should also be agreed soon, such as the railway Corridor 10 and reconstruction of sections of the Belgrade-Bar railway, and the loan conditions are somewhat more favorable than the loans that Serbia takes out in the international financial market, he said.

The agreement on the Russian loan envisages inclusion of contractors from Russia in the realization of projects which will be financed by the loan, as well as procurement of one part of equipment from their factories.

The Russian side is in charge of preparing the details of the loan, said Radosavljevic, and explained that he cannot disclose any details on the interest rate and loan maturity.

When asked why the signing of the agreement has been postponed until autumn, Radosavljevic said that the signing and ratification will be possible only after the parliamentary elections in Serbia, that is after the forming of a new government and parliament and adoption of the budget review, which will not be possible to take place before autumn.

In the meantime, until the agreement is ratified, individual loans for certain projects in railway infrastructure will be signed, said Radosavljevic.

During the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Belgrade in late 2008, Serbian President Boris Tadic and his Russian counterpart reached an agreement on a Russian loan in the amount of nearly USD 1 billion. Concrete talks started in late October 2009, and only USD 200 million have so far been withdrawn for the needs of the Serbian budget.