December 10 (SeeNews) - The Czech government has signed an agreement to settle a $32.8 million (28.8 million euro) debt owed by Serbia, the Czech finance ministry said on Monday.
The debt will be settled through the payment of a one-off installment of $9.8 million by Serbia within 45 days following the signing of the agreement, the Czech finance ministry said in a statement.
The remaining $23 million of the debt will be counted as official development assistance (ODA) to Serbia, the Czech finance ministry said.
"We have talked a lot about new investors coming to our country from the Czech Republic. That is why we want to settle this old debt as soon as possible in order to open up space for the further development of our bilateral relations," Serbian finance minister Sinisa Mali said in a separate statement on Monday.
The debt, including a principal of $14.7 million and an interest of $18 million, originated in the early 1990s as the final balance of the mutual trading account between the Czech and Slovak Federative Republics and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
($ = 0.8767 euro)