FILE - People attend a protest against pollution and the exploitation of a lithium mine in western part of the country, in Belgrade, Serbia, on Sept. 11, 2021. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Serbia later this week to discuss a tentative deal with the Balkan country for the controversial excavation of lithium, a critical substance in making batteries for electric vehicles.
There will also be a letter of intent signed by the Serbian government and several companies related to the lithium mining project, he said. Vucic and other Serbian officials have said the lithium excavation will go ahead if Germany and other EU states build factories for their car batteries in Serbia, rather than directly exporting raw materials to those countries.