Let’s say we expel Rio Tinto tomorrow, do you want to provide a billion euros?“

President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has said that Serbia will pay one billion euros if we decide to „expel“ Rio Tinto from the country.

Speaking about the protests caused by the intention of the Rio Tinto company to exploit lithium in the Jadar Valley, Vucic said that the company had been brought to Serbia „by those who are calling for protests today and they committed themselves to the company via Great Britain“.

„There is nothing fair about all this. But let’s say we expel Rio Tinto tomorrow. Will you want to provide a billion euros, which is the amount we should pay for what they signed? Or maybe it is better to find a better way to solve the problem. It is important that there is a moratorium, there are no further activities of Rio Tinto. We will see what will happen next,“ Vucic said.

He said for the holiday edition of the Vecernje novosti daily that he was worried about the situation in the region and „external pressures“, but that he was „completely calm, happy and satisfied“ when it comes to the Serbian economy.

„Serbia has really been the most successful in entire Europe in the last two years. We ended 2021 with a total GDP of 53 billion euros. When I became Prime Minister, the GDP was 33 billion euros. Everything that generations have done and built in the previous decades was worth 33 billion euros, and in the last seven years alone we have created additional 20 billion euros,“ said Vucic.

Izvor: Beta

Foto: Beta