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Serbia should initial CEFTA agreement as soon as possible
Skopje,
18 May 2007
Head of the Serbian delegation for negotiations on the application of CEFTA agreement Vlatko Sekulovic said today that Serbia should initial the agreement on free trade zone in southeastern Europe as soon as possible, which will start to be applied from May this year.
Sekulovic, who is attending a working meeting in Skopje of delegations of the countries that signed the agreement in 2006, recalled that five countries have so far initialled this document. Croatia is about to do that today and after that only Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia will be the ones that have not done that. Serbia must initial this document since in 2010 it will preside over CEFTA agreement.
He said that participants at today’s meeting gave a positive assessment of the Serbian government’s action plan for the tobacco industry which envisages introduction of a single excise duty for domestic and foreign cigarettes from January 1, 2008, while the customs duty on import of cigarettes will be increased from 15% to 57.6%.
At the meeting in Skopje, the Serbian delegation held bilateral talks with representatives of Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Moldavia on certain questions regarding trade between Serbia and these countries, said Sekulovic.
He said that the Serbian delegation once again presented the demand to counterparts from Bosnia-Herzegovina that those customs duties, which, according to Serbia’s estimate are not in accordance with bilateral agreements on free trade, should be abolished so that the export of agricultural products to the Bosnia-Herzegovina market may be conducted without obstacles.
In talks with the Macedonian delegation the issue of subsidising export of agricultural products was examined and Serbian representatives informed the Macedonian delegation that Serbia will not subsidise export of these products into CEFTA signatory countries, thereby removing the threat that Macedonia introduces compensation taxes on agricultural products, said Sekulovic.
According to Sekulovic, in the meeting with the Moldavian delegation one of the issues discussed was the extraordinary increase in export of sugar from Moldavia into the Serbian market, which poses a serious threat to the Serbian sugar industry.
Sekulovic said that agreement was reached that a joint Moldavian and Serbian committee will meet in early June this year, in order to find specific solutions for the situation and avoid damage to Serbian industry.
At the same time, we also talked about other technical issues, with the aim of making preparations for a ministerial conference of CEFTA signatory countries, which will be held in Skopje in September, said Sekulovic.
He said that participants at today’s meeting gave a positive assessment of the Serbian government’s action plan for the tobacco industry which envisages introduction of a single excise duty for domestic and foreign cigarettes from January 1, 2008, while the customs duty on import of cigarettes will be increased from 15% to 57.6%.
At the meeting in Skopje, the Serbian delegation held bilateral talks with representatives of Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Moldavia on certain questions regarding trade between Serbia and these countries, said Sekulovic.
He said that the Serbian delegation once again presented the demand to counterparts from Bosnia-Herzegovina that those customs duties, which, according to Serbia’s estimate are not in accordance with bilateral agreements on free trade, should be abolished so that the export of agricultural products to the Bosnia-Herzegovina market may be conducted without obstacles.
In talks with the Macedonian delegation the issue of subsidising export of agricultural products was examined and Serbian representatives informed the Macedonian delegation that Serbia will not subsidise export of these products into CEFTA signatory countries, thereby removing the threat that Macedonia introduces compensation taxes on agricultural products, said Sekulovic.
According to Sekulovic, in the meeting with the Moldavian delegation one of the issues discussed was the extraordinary increase in export of sugar from Moldavia into the Serbian market, which poses a serious threat to the Serbian sugar industry.
Sekulovic said that agreement was reached that a joint Moldavian and Serbian committee will meet in early June this year, in order to find specific solutions for the situation and avoid damage to Serbian industry.
At the same time, we also talked about other technical issues, with the aim of making preparations for a ministerial conference of CEFTA signatory countries, which will be held in Skopje in September, said Sekulovic.
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