The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, inaugurated the first kilometers of the Peace Highway that is expected to pass from Nis to Merdara, Pristina, Tirana and Durrës. 

"I am proud that this highway will connect us with the Albanians", he said, emphasizing that trade between Serbia and Albania has increased by 35 percent in recent years. 

Vucic added that this road axis, which he considered the backbone of the Western Balkans, will be one of the busiest highways in the next 20 years.

"This road will connect the south of Serbia with the network of the Western Balkans and will enable the free circulation of people, goods and capital, from Nis through Pristina to Tirana and beyond", he emphasized. 

As he emphasized, the road should be "a road of peace, stability and reconciliation, and for this reason it was named the Highway of Peace". 

"The 5.5-kilometer section that we opened today is the first segment of a much larger project that will connect Nis and other cities in this part of Serbia to the Adriatic Sea through Durrës," Vucic said.

The value of the entire project is expected to be around 650 million euros. The cost of the Nis-Plocnik section of 33 kilometers, estimated at 255 million euros, is financed with a grant from the European Union (EU) worth more than 40 million euros. 

The contract for this first part of the highway was signed in September 2021 during the visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. 

Over 180 million euros have been provided with favourable loans from the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, while the rest will come from the Serbian government's budget. 

"Peace Highway" is one of the main projects within the EU Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans. 

The "Peace Highway" was also part of the agreement between Serbia and Kosovo signed at the White House in 2020 and for the construction of which the EU and the USA will help. The part that connects the border point between Kosovo and Serbia, Merdare to Pristina has a length of 27 km. According to the Government of Kosovo, it has a cost of about 240 million euros.

"Great news! With the inauguration of the first part of the Nis-Merdare section of the Peace Highway, we connect people and business in the south of Serbia. This is a flagship project of the 30 billion Euro Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans. The EU is investing and will invest more," Commissioner Varhely wrote in a tweet.