Vucic: Cooperation with Bavaria important, its companies employ 25,000 Serbians

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after meeting with Minister-President of the German state of Bavaria Markus Soder on Friday that cooperation with Bavaria was very important for Serbia as Bavarian companies alone employed 25,000 people in Serbia.

At a joint press conference, Vucic said he had been able to learn a lot from Soder as one of the most important and the most successful politicians in today's Europe.

"Many thanks to you for visiting Serbia and for delivering so quickly on what you said in Munich at the Security Conference. I hope you and all members of your delegation feel at home in our country and I think it was both an honour and a privilege to us to be able to host you," Vucic told Soder said at the Palace of Serbia.

He said Soder was one of the strongest and the most significant leaders in today's Europe.

"He is one of the people who have their own, unequivocal stances that are brave and determined, and one of the most successful politicians of contemporary Europe both when it comes to economic progress of Bavaria and, I would say, his influence on overall European politics," Vucic said.

He noted that Bavaria was the largest German state in land area and the second largest in population.

"Cooperation between Serbia and Bavaria is extremely important for us because Bavarian companies alone employ 25,000 people in Serbia. They are companies such as Brose, MTU, Leoni, Siemens, Muhlbauer and many other companies operating in our country," Vucic said.

Previously, Vucic ceremonially awarded to Soder the Order of the Republic of Serbia on a ribbon.