Agreements signed for Kuwait's EUR 25 million loan to Serbia for Prokop railway station construction

Representatives of the Serbian government and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) signed agreements in Belgrade on December 10th, under which that fund should extend a EUR 25 million loan to Serbia for the construction of the main railway station Prokop in Belgrade.

A guarantee agreement for this project was signed on the premises of the Serbian government by Serbian PM Ivica Dacic and KFAED CEO Abdulvahab al Bader, who also signed a loan agreement with Serbian Railways Director Milovan Markovic.

After signing the agreement, Dacic stated that that loan was only a portion of the funding required to complete the Prokop project. He did not want to specify deadlines for its completion, pointing out that it was in the interest of Serbia to have it finished as soon as possible so the current site of the main railway station in Belgrade could be used for much more profitable purposes.

The prime minister stressed that Serbia obtained that loan under very favorable terms, with the fixed interest rate of three percent per year, the repayment period of 18 years and the grace period of four years.

According to Dacic, this is only the first batch of projects that can be implemented in cooperation with Kuwait because there is a significant potential for cooperation in the fields of agriculture, construction and the military industry. He also said that the volume of trade between Serbia and Kuwait is now neglectable, even for Serbian standards, amounting to only few million dollars.

Al Bader underlined that that fund was active in many countries experiencing difficulties in their economic development, adding that he was pleased that they were able to help Serbia as well.

Construction of Prokop started in 1977, but it was soon discontinued due to lack of finance. It was resumed in the 1990s and then halted again in 2000.

By the way, international main lines run through the Belgrade Railway Hub, a part of which is Prokop, and connect Paris with Istanbul, Budapest with Athens, and Bucharest with Bar via Belgrade.