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.
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