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Serbia, Turkey sign free trade agreement

Belgrade, 1 June 2009

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic and Turkish Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan today signed a free trade agreement between the two countries, which will be implemented from January 1, 2010.

Mladjan Dinkic and Zafer Caglayan

Author: Tanjug

A statement issued by the Ministry of Economy says that the agreement will be implemented in accordance with an asymmetric trade liberalisation model which will be of advantage to Serbia. The agreement was signed at the annual economic summit in Istanbul.

Dinkic said that the free trade agreement with Turkey is a great opportunity for Serbian exporters who will be able to export goods free of customs duty from January next year to a country with a population of 75 million, while the liberalisation for Serbia will consist of three phases, taking until 2015.

During the talks with the Turkish side we focused on protecting our agriculture, textile and metallurgical sectors, while Serbia got the opportunity to immediately export all kinds of industrial products without paying customs duty, explained Dinkic.

Caglayan and Dinkic said that the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement will create conditions for a considerable increase of the overall volume of their trade, particularly the Serbian exports, as well as help to boost Turkish investment in the Serbian economy.

At the Economic Summit in Istanbul, which this year gathered representatives from 138 countries, Dinkic had the honour to be the first to present the economic potential of his country, right after the hosts’ welcoming address. He talked about ways to increase international trade with the aim of mitigating the global economic crisis.

At the meeting with members of the DEIK association, gathering representatives from around 600 Turkish companies, Dinkic spoke about Serbia’s investment possibilities. The meeting was organised by the Turkish Chamber of Commerce, adds the statement.