German company to open R&D center, "hire 500 engineers"

German company to open R&D center, "hire 500 engineers"

The engineers "will work on the development of innovative software and mobility solutions," Vucic told journalists after meeting with the company's representatives at the Serbian government HQ, the government announced.

According to him, "this is by far the best German investment project to date, and also a signal for other large companies to come to Serbia."

Vucic said that Continental - which manufactures automotive parts and technologies - "wanted to come to Serbia three years ago, but the management in Germany felt that economic conditions were not appropriate."

"Today, the economic situation is different, we have a full financial stability and confidence in all the agreements that we made and that is why a giant like Continental invests in our country," he said.

"With the arrival of the German company Serbia is no longer a place for the production of lowest value, but it becomes an attractive place for development, science and research. Serbian universities have become a place of technology development," Vucic said, and added that "this is crucial because only when our schools and colleges start cooperating with companies and industries will we be able to grow faster and get closer to Germany, Austria and Switzerland."

Vucic thanked "everyone who helped that this software giant comes to our country, "especially to German Ambassador to Serbia Axel Dittmann who has always helped that investments from Germany in Serbia become reality."

Dittmann said that interest in doing business in Serbia is growing, and that the German government is working closely with the authorities in Serbia.

Today we are witnesses of the agreement which is extremely important and places economic relations on a different level. This is good news that I will convey to other German companies too," the ambassador said.