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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Restoring preferential arrangement of sugar exports to top $100 mln

Belgrade, 22 July 2004

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus said today that regaining the preferences for sugar exports from Serbia on the EU market is of great importance as the value of annual export of sugar may reach $100 million.

Miroljub Labus

Labus told the Beta news agency that EU has not set any sugar export quota, adding that Serbia is expected to export its sugar suplus on the EU market.

He said that Serbia will export between 170,000 and 200,000 tonnes of sugar, adding that this is a very positive move, as it also paves the way for the textile agreement to be reached, which is even more important.

Labus said that the Serbian government was requested to review some 5,000 certificates of origin over the next three months in order to establish whether the sugar really originates from Serbia.

He also said that Serbia’s customs had a good cooperation with EU customs services, which is, according to Labus, a good formula for Serbia to retain the customs tarrifs.

Labus also said that restoring the preferential trestment of sugar exports signals that Brussels has regained faith in Belgrade. It is also a gestrure of EU’s support to the democratic authorities in Serbia, Labus said.

The European Commision suspended the preferential tariff on sugar exported into the EU from Serbia-Montenegro in May 2003 on suspicion that the sugar was reexported from other countries on the EU market.