The agreement made in June has been fiercely criticised by environmentalists and opposition groups in Serbia, who argue that it would cause irreversible environmental damage while bringing little benefit to its citizens.
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00:00The first electric vehicle to be mass-produced in Serbia will enter production in October.
00:08It took two years to adapt the Stellantis factory in Kragujevac to make it suitable
00:12for the production of the Fiat Grand Panda EV.
00:15Upon production, the cars will be delivered to showrooms in Europe, the Middle East and
00:20Africa.
00:22The CEO of Stellantis, the manufacturer of the car, says the company is ready to rise
00:27to the challenge from Chinese EV makers that are currently dominating the European market.
00:32We are going to demonstrate to them that we have the right technology.
00:35We are going to demonstrate to them that we are a very fierce competitor.
00:42The inauguration comes after thousands came to the streets across Serbia to protest a
00:46lithium mining project.
00:49A deal reached earlier this month between the Balkan country and the European Union
00:53aims to provide the EU with critical raw materials such as lithium.
00:58This has prompted Serbia to give the green light to Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio
01:02Tinto to develop what could be Europe's largest lithium reserve.
01:07The agreement could reduce Europe's dependency on China and push Serbia, which has close
01:12ties to Russia and China, closer to the EU.
01:16But environmentalists criticized the deal as the mining can cause irreversible damage
01:20to the environment.