Serbia’s Minister of Construction, Traffic and Infrastructure Zoran Mihajlovic signed an agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a 100 million worth loan and another one on aid of 40.6 million Euros for the construction of a motorway linking Serbia’s southern city of Nis to Kosovo’s capital Pristina, the Beta news agency reported.

The Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) has allocated 44.4 million Euros in grants to Serbia for traffic projects, the Ministry of Construction, Traffic and Infrastructure is reported to have said in a statement on Friday.

The statement said that the bulk of the money is an investment grant of 40.6 million Euros for the construction of the first section of the Nis-Merdare-Pristina highway between the southern city of Nis and the village of Plocnik in the Prokuplje municipality.

Aleksandar Vucic has told Angela Merkel he believes the Regional Economic Zone and the Nis-Pristina highway is of great importance to the Western Balkans.

The Serbian president Vucic asked the German chancellor Merkel to use her reputation and authority to speed up the realization of these two projects, Tanjug reported.

The Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic states that the Government of Serbia could consider announcing a public invitation for the construction of the highway Nis-Merdare-Pristina by the end of the year.

The Minister told the Radio-Television of Serbia (RTS) that Serbia had completed the necessary documentation and that the investment in that road, also called "Peace Road", amounted 200 million euros.