Direct trains Trieste - Beograd

Italian Transport Minister Matteo Salvini went to meet President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, and promised there would be Trieste - Beograd direct trains. There was no commitment as to when these trains would run, or whether they would be freight or passenger trains. You can read more about it from Ferrovie here. I think the way ANSA frames it is more interesting - Salvini says Italian firms can compete with Chinese ones for contracts in Serbia.

So while of course Salvini and Vučić can have a bit of a bromance, I cannot see how direct Trieste - Beograd trains make operational sense. Beograd towards Milano, with a night train, might make sense for passengers, but not Trieste. And for freight why would you go north by train just to get to the port of Trieste, when you could go south to Thessaloniki or Piraeus? As if that were not enough, infrastructure on many parts of the route is terrible, although there is prospect for a little improvement.