In the presentation of CEFTA held in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS), Parivodic said that when the deficits with Bulgaria and Romania are excluded, as the two are joining the EU, the surplus with other countries will amount to €800 million.
He said that the aim of CEFTA is to abolish customs fees on all industrial products and on 90% of agricultural products, adding that Serbia could not have said no to CEFTA as it would greatly impede its commerce.
Parivodic recalled that there were 32 bilateral trade agreements between Balkan countries and noted that CEFTA now covers all these agreements. He added that CEFTA comes into force once five countries from the region ratify it.
Manager of the group for origin of goods of the Serbian Customs Administration Tihomir Bogicevic said that defining the origin of goods is one of the most important issues.
He stressed that all products will have to be labeled with the EUR1 certificate specifying the origin of the product.
State Secretary at the Serbian Ministry of International Economic Relations Vlatko Sekulovic pointed out that Bosnia-Herzegovina requested that CEFTA protects its agricultural production for a three-year period.
This protection refers to exports of meat, milk, beer, water and confectionary products from Serbia, he explained.
At the same time, he said it would be good to withdraw some legal solutions relating to tobacco that come into force on January 1. Also on January 1, a new law will become effective that envisages an increase of excises on domestic cigarettes and a change of the fee's previous ratio between foreign and domestic cigarettes.
So far, excises were RSD 10 on foreign and RSD 1 on domestic cigarettes, while as of next year they will be RSD 10 on foreign and RSD 2 on domestic cigarettes, Sekulovic specified.
He said that the issue of protection of domestic producers is a complex one and that the Serbian government will have to make a strategy in which it will detail the ways for protecting the domestic tobacco industry.
Sekulovic said that a CEFTA Secretariat will be formed in Serbia, whose task will be to monitor the implementation of that agreement and assist businessmen to put it into practice.
The CEFTA agreement will be presented on the
PKS web page.