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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Details of textile trade agreement harmonised

Brussels, 11 June 2004

Delegations of Serbia-Montenegro and the European Commission have harmonised all details of the future agreement on trade in textile products, said Serbian Assistant Minister of International Economic Relations Ana Blagojevic, who is heading the Serbia-Montenegrin delegation at the negotiations in Brussels. Blagojevic said that the agreement is expected to be initialed after both parties complete necessary procedures.

The European Commission said that the signing of the agreement will depend on the results of the check of origin of sugar exported from Serbia into the EU, before the EU introduced a ban on importing sugar from Serbia.

During two-days talks in Brussels, which commenced yesterday after a several-month delay, the Serbia-Montenegrin delegation requested that the issues of export of textile and sugar be separated, since a new customs regulations was put into place early this year.

The European Commission accepted objections of the Serbia-Montenegrin delegation to the previous text of the textile agreement, and approved the extension of deadline for reducing customs duties for textiles from the EU, as well as provisions which allow for unimpeded accession to the World Trade Organisation and the EU.

According to the draft agreement, the EU should fully open its market for textiles and clothes made in Serbia-Montenegro and abolish customs duties and quotas.

At the proposal of the Serbia-Montenegrin delegation, EU representatives agreed to consider increasing import quotas for textile products from Serbia-Montenegro until the trade agreement has come into force.