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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

All obstacles in signing CEFTA removed

Belgrade/Bucharest, 18 December 2006

State Secretary at the Serbian Ministry of International Economic Relations Vlatko Sekulovic said today that all obstacles in signing the Central European Free Trade Agreement have been removed because Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia, following earlier reservations, have accepted terms of the agreement.

In a telephone statement from Bucharest to the news agency Tanjug, Sekulovic said that Bosnia-Herzegovina had earlier demanded protection for her agricultural producers through higher customs rates, while Macedonia objected to the amendment to article 23 of the agreement which envisages introduction of protection measures prior to holding consultations with CEFTA signatory countries.

According to Sekulovic, conditions were created for all countries and territories to join the CEFTA so that the agreement covers the entire region, sending the important message to investors that the region is stable and offers better conditions for business than before.

CEFTA brings a number of advantages to countries in the region, stressed Sekulovic and specified that one of them is joint product origin which opens up investment opportunities between countries in the region such as the cooperation between the Slovenian company “Droga” and “Soko Stark” from Belgrade, or the Croatian company “Agrokor” and Serbian “Delta”.

Sekulovic said that the future of the region lies in strengthening not just external trade but also joint investments.