BELGRADE ā Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak will be getting a Serbian passport, Serbiaās president announced Wednesday.
The convivial Wozniak, who teamed up with the late Steve Jobs to found Apple in 1976, arrived in Serbia ahead of Dec. 17 parliamentary and local elections, in an apparent boost for President Aleksandar VuÄiÄ and his populist right-wing governing party.
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Wozniak said he feels āso luckyā to be in Serbia and that he and his wife Janet, who is also getting a passport, will from now on āpromoteā Serbia. He said he will become a Serb living in the U.S.
VuÄiÄ said at a joint news conference in Belgrade that āit is an honorā for Serbia to deliver the passports to Wozniak and his wife.
āNow we can proudly say that a computer genius is a Serb," VuÄiÄ said.
Wozniakās visit, which was announced on Tuesday, was met with disapproval from opposition parties, which accused the government or ruling party of paying Wozniak to make PR appearances.
"No one paid him to come to Serbia, to be completely clear,ā Serbian Prime Minister Ana BrnabiÄ said.
Wozniak said he was invited to visit by former top Serbian tennis player Janko TipsareviÄ, a prominent member of VuÄiÄ's Serbian Progressive Party.
Wozniak, 73, suffered a mild stroke while attending a business conference in Mexico City in November.
Wozniak left Apple in 1985 to pursue a wide range of other interests but has remained a fervent supporter of the company and a technology evangelist. He competed on the TV program āDancing with the Starsā in 2009 and participated as a judge on an online video show called āUnicorn Huntersā that assesses ideas from entrepreneurs vying to build startups.