Vucic tells Kleine Zeitung: "We will produce Russian and Chinese vaccines, build a new factory"

Photo: Tanjug/Tara Radovanovic

In an interview with the Austrian daily Kleine Zeitung, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that a cornerstone would be laid in the coming days for a brand new factory where a Chinese vaccine against coronavirus will be produced in our country, and recalled that the first component of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine is already being produced in Serbia, while work is currently underway to start making the second component of that vaccine as well.

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He also stressed that Serbia, when it comes to environmental protection, will respond to the problems with a serious policy, but that it will not give up on the industrialization of the country, reports Tanjug.

Vucic noticed that resistance to vaccination against coronavirus is obviously universal, and not a problem of only one country.

"Why that is so - I don't understand. However, conspiracy theories and negative messages obviously have better reach than positive ones. Social networks also play a role in that, as well as the fact that people see their freedoms in (holding) unreasonable stances as well," Vucic explained why vaccination has slowed down in Serbia.

When asked how Serbia treats the topics of environmental protection, he stressed that is becoming increasingly important, because people in Serbia see that the standard of living is growing, that new factories and roads are being built.

"The question is whether that is really the most important topic or just one important topic. There is also political abuse there. We will respond to that with a serious policy, which means improving the quality of air and water, in which we will invest a lot of money," he explained.

Vucic recalled that the "Serbia 2025" plan envisages that more than 120 municipalities be connected to sewerage networks, as well as that wastewater treatment plants will be built in all cities, while asbestos pipes are being removed from the water supply network.

"We will do all that, but I will not participate in the deindustrialization of Serbia. We want even more industry and factories, and we must find a middle ground between environmental protection and the economy, but not at the cost of our economy not growing," he said.

Asked about Serbia's European path and how he views the EU enlargement fatigue, Vucic said that heads of diplomacy of the Union pointed out at a recent meeting that Serbia was making progress on the issue of the rule of law, adding that this was still not enough.

"We have increased harmonization with EU's foreign policy from 46 to more than 62 percent. I believe that by the end of the year, we will open certain clusters according to the new (enlargement) methodology. But, it's important for us to know that we are truly on the European path, however, we must also look at our economic growth and we cannot wait until the mood in the EU changes. We want to do everything to become a member of the EU and we have no other path, but we will certainly not have bad relations with Russia and China because of that," he said.

(Telegraf.rs)