Vucic: Serbia frontrunner of development in W Balkans, economy always wins

ZURICH - We live in a time when people do not listen to each other, but the economy always wins in the end, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said at a Zurich conference on Wednesday, noting that Serbia is a frontrunner of development in the Western Balkans, with the economy as its driving force.

"We must work even more diligently, which will be very difficult to do. In all our countries, across Europe, people want to live better year by year but to work less," Vucic said at the Zurich Speech event, hosted by the Weltwoche magazine.

According to a post on the buducnostsrbijeav Instagram account, Vucic noted that Serbia was by far the frontrunner in the region when it comes to the level of development.

"I have great apprehensions that we will have an even more difficult situation in Europe. Europe must make a larger number of strategic decisions than it has so far. I believe it will be able to do that," Vucic said at the event.

The economy is Serbia's driving force, he added.

"Our job is to modernise our country, to democratise it, and the economy is the driving force for me and my country, and I hope more Swiss people will be coming to Serbia, as well as that many of our people who live here will bring their know-how or return to Serbia themselves, for which we would be deeply grateful," Vucic said.

The economy always wins in the end, Vucic said, noting that he believed the Swiss knew that better than many others in the world.

On its front cover, Weltwoche hailed Vucic as a "man of peace" and its owner and Editor-in-Chief Roger Koppel, who hosted the conference, used the same phrase to introduce Vucic at the event.

"Vucic, you are a man of peace, and Serbia is an extremely interesting country with rich history, in the centre of Europe, between the West and the East, always facing difficult situations. Serbia is a Christian nation and, for centuries, Serbia defended Christianity in Europe," Koppel said.