Belgrade - Serbia on Friday leveled the price of highway tolls for local and foreign vehicles, meeting a commitment it took on nearly seven years ago.

The double-standard which Serbia applied, charging foreign vehicles in its highways nearly twice as much as those registered in Serbia, led to a row with Athens which stranded more than 100 Serbian haulers in Greece over several days.

Belgrade promised to level the cost for all on February 5, but ordered the implementation of the promise on a regular government session Thursday.

Sitting at the heart of the Balkans and straddling the shortest road route between Western Europe and the Middle East, Serbia has in the past charged foreign vehicles in transit up to 14 times as much as local vehicles, in a practice outlawed in the European Union.

Until the new rule came into effect, a Serbian trucker was paying 6,440 dinars (87 dollars) for transit through Serbia on the Zagreb-Belgrade-Thessaloniki highway, while a foreigner would pay 12,160 dinars.

Information about toll on Serbian highways is available on the site of the national automotive organization AMSS (www. amss. rs). (dpa)