Serbia starts construction of a China-funded railway in Budapest

Almaty. November 30. Silkroadnews - Serbia begins construction of a China-funded railway to Budapest, Business Insider reports.
“Serbia began work on a China-funded railway line on Tuesday to try to improve the Balkan country's infrastructure, an effort also expected to strengthen Beijing's influence in Europe,” the report said.
In May Serbia received $297.6 million from China’s Exim Bank in China to modernize the railway between Belgrade and the capital of Hungary, Budapest. Beijing believes that Serbia, a candidate for membership in the EU, and Hungary, a member of the EU, can open new foreign trade links for Chinese companies within Belt and Road initiative.
The high-speed rail service between Belgrade and Budapest is expected to cost 3.2 billion euros ($3.80 billion) and become the main transport route for Chinese goods that arrive by sea to the Greek port of Piraeus and to other European cities.
According to the Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabic, the 30-km stretch of the road from Belgrade to the northern town of Stara Pazova is a key step of the project.
Reportedly Serbia has developed good relations with China since the 1990s, when Belgrade was economically isolated because of its participation in the Yugoslav conflict.
Hungary also proposed a tender for the construction of a modernized railway line with Belgrade. The construction of the Hungarian site worth about 550 billion forints ($2.1 billion) will begin in 2020.