Vujovic: Lithium an opportunity that should not be missed, environment to be protected

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Environmental Protection Irena Vujovic said on Tuesday lithium and the Jadar project were an opportunity Serbia should not miss and that all environmental standards would be complied with to preserve the environment.

In a statement to Tanjug, Vujovic said an EU-Serbia MoU on strategic partnership on sustainable raw materials, signed in Belgrade last week, was extremely important for Serbia as it showed the country was an adequate partner to the EU and capable of taking a strategic matter to a higher level.

She said her ministry and the Serbian government would try to fully align all laws and standards with EU laws and standards to preserve the environment and minimise negative environmental impacts.

She noted that the government would not allow anything that would be detrimental to the health and lives of the citizens or the environment.

Vujovic also said Stellantis's new electric car, the Fiat Grande Panda - to be produced in Kragujevac, central Serbia - was very important for Serbia and the national economy, as well as for the environment as a transition to electric vehicles was a major step towards improvement of air quality.

She said a subsidy programme for buyers of electric vehicles would be continued and that efforts would be made to install several thousand electric chargers across the country.