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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina want stronger pressure on Pristina to abolish tariffs

Belgrade, 27 May 2019

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic met today in Sarajevo with Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia-Herzegovina Mirko Sarovic.

Ljajic and Sarovic discussed further steps regarding the discriminatory tariffs levied on goods from two countries by interim self-government institutions in Pristina.

Ljajic said that since 21 November 2018, when tariffs were imposed until 21 May 21 this year, Serbia delivered to Kosovo-Metohija €189.5 million in goods less compared to the same period last year, which represents a drop of as much as 80 percent.

This practically means, Ljajic added, that the damage is somewhat higher than €1 million a day.

Sarovic said that in the past six months, Bosnia-Herzegovina exported to Kosovo-Metohija €27 million in goods less than in the same period last year, which is a drop of 97 percent.

For example, in the first four months of this year, Bosnia-Herzegovina exported goods worth only €500,000.

The two ministers concluded that citizens in Kosovo-Metohija also suffer damage due to the imposed tariffs, as retail prices increased by 5.3 percent, the foreign trade deficit increased by 5.4 percent and the import of goods by 6.4 percent.

They also noted that due to the imposition of tariffs, all regional initiatives have been almost stopped, causing political damage for the normalisation of relations in this part of Europe.