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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Single multilateral free trade agreement announced

Belgrade / Sofia, 10 June 2005

Serbian Deputy Minister of International Economic Relations Vlatko Sekulovic said following the 4th Ministerial Conference in Sofia that the foreign trade and economics ministers of the countries of southeastern Europe decided to replace all bilateral free trade agreements with a single multilateral one that could be applied to the whole region.

Sekulovic told the Beta news agency that the new agreement could lead to the strengthening of the joint market, that is the free trade zone, which would create a simpler mechanism for businessmen when it comes to launching products in southeastern Europe.

He stressed that already now positive effects of the existing free trade agreements are being registered and added that in 2005 Serbia has tripled its trade volume with Romania, and doubled it with Bulgaria.

Sekulovic pointed out that on his initiative, the ministers at the conference have accepted a proposal on establishing a new fund for financing the development of joint investments of enterprises in southeastern Europe.

According to him, this fund should be established at the regional level out of EU funds as well as coming from funds of other interested investors. The fund would be used to finance joint projects in southeastern European countries, he added.

Sekulovic said the proposal was backed by representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and added that the implementation of this idea will be discussed in detail at the next ministerial conference to be held this year.

The ministerial conference was attended by representatives of Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Romania, Moldova and Serbia-Montenegro.

The conference was organized by Investment Compact (IC), Bulgaria, Austria, OECD and the Stability Pact Working Group on Trade Liberalisation and Facilitation in South East Europe.