Fernandez: Jadar project to add 1-3 pct to Serbian GDP

BELGRADE - Once it is in place, the Jadar lithium mining project will provide batteries for more than a million electric vehicles per year and add 1-3 pct to Serbia's GDP, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Jose Fernandez said in Belgrade on Thursday.

"It will help the world as we try to address the existential issue of our time - climate change," Fernandez told reporters after a meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

"This is an opportunity, we believe, for Serbia to take advantage of a generational challenge and also to take advantage of an opportunity that does not come often," he said.

"We are in a position now where the world needs 42 times the amount of lithium by 2050 if we are going to reach our clean energy goals. That is both a challenge for climate/energy goals, but it is also an opportunity. If this is done right, this will bring benefits both to Serbia and to countries that are facing the global climate challenge," Fernandez explained.

He noted that the Jadar project had also been discussed at a mineral security partnership forum in the US, and welcomed a public debate on it.

"We would like to see how the US can contribute to that debate. It is a debate that ought to be based on science, ought to be based on facts, and that is important. We believe that investment in critical minerals around the world - and this is why we have created the mineral security partnership - must benefit communities, must follow high environmental standards, must include social benefits for communities. And that is something that we believe, if done right, will help countries in the industries," Fernandez said.

"This is about supporting Serbia's efforts to develop its economy and also supporting the world's clean energy goals," he said.

"I look forward to continuing our conversations about how we can further develop our economic relationship both in the critical minerals side but also on telecommunications and many other areas. This is a good moment for relations between Serbia and the United States," Fernandez also said.