The future Belgrade - Sarajevo highway is not just a simple highway, but a connection between people and the entire region, Serbia’s Minister for construction, traffic and infrastructure said on Saturday, adding that she hopes that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will send a similar message about the importance of the region’s stability.

The Turkish President should be visiting Belgrade on October 7 and 8 and Minister Zorana Mihajlovic said she expects such a message during the visit, she told the Anadolu Agency.

Connecting Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina is very important and such a highway would do just that, she said.

“We have already started preparation work and a ceremony marking the start of the construction will be held during President Erdogan’s visit next week,” she said. “Representatives of the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be present as well since it is equally important for all of us to be there.”

A bridge connecting the two countries will be part of the highway and a construction permit has already been obtained.

The first phase – from Sremska Mitrovica to Kumin – will cost 250 million euro and will be constructed by Turkish company Tasijapi.

Together with this company, Serbia is developing plans and technical documentation for the second part of the ring which will be 63 kilometres long and will go from Pozega to Kotroman. The works will cost 800 million euro and will start in 2021, Mihajlovic said, adding that the first phase should be finished in 2.5 years.

Mihajlovic said that when one looks at the map for former Yugoslavia, it can be seen that there are no highways that connect people. She said that as Serbia built Corridor 10, factories and businesses started popping up along it and that she expects the same to happen along the Bosnia – Serbia highway.