China, Hungary and Serbia have agreed to cooperate in modernising the Budapest-Belgrade railway line. The agreement was concluded by Prime Ministers Viktor Orbán of Hungary, Li Keqiang of China and Ivica Dačić of Serbia in Bucharest on Monday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán pointed out that China carries an extraordinary potential whereas Central Europe will be the engine of European growth, adding that to make the most out of the economic potential of Central Europe necessitates investment in infrastructure.

He thanked China for the investments it has already made in Hungary, adding that they increase the competitiveness of the whole European Union. He concluded that the present agreement creates a „win-win-win” situation to all three countries.

Chinese Head of State Li Keqiang said that the project is a milestone in the decades-long cooperation between Central and Eastern European countries and China.

He added that the three parties have agreed to immediately set up a joint working group to launch the project as soon as possible.

According to Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić, the agreement plays an important role in developing Serbia’s commercial and economic relations and he considers it possible that further countries will join the railway development project.

China offered to raise a fund worth 10 billion dollars to support the Central and Eastern European region’s infrastructure development projects at the China-CEE summit in Warsaw last year.

(Prime Minister’s Office)