Pristina wants to ban import of commodities from Serbia from January 1st
Pristina institutions will impose a ban on the import of goods from Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as of January 1st in response to the decision of authorities in Belgrade and Sarajevo to ban the import and transport of goods that are marked with “Kosovo Customs” instead of UNMIK Customs
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Monday, December 29, 2008
The Head of the Foreign Trade Department at the Kosovo Chamber of Economy Safet Grcaliu said that Kosovo institutions had taken such a measure for reasons of reciprocity.
He said that the measures would be implemented on January 1st at the latest.
"We will implement the measures gradually, in three or four stages. We have to be careful because some businessmen from Kosovo have good cooperation with tradesmen and producers from Serbia and we cannot ban this all ad hoc," Grcaliu said.
He added that such movements brought into quetion the CEFTA agreements signed among the South-East European countries.
"In the case of Kosovo and Serbia and Kosovo and Bosnia CEFTA no longer exists and if it does it is high time to do something to remove or solve the barriers, because they are not leading anywhere," Grcaliu said.
Meanwhile, the president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Milos Bugarin on Friday rejected as untrue allegagations about a boycott of goods arriving from Kosovo and added that there was very little of these goods.
Bugarin said that a ban on the import of Serbian goods to Kosovo would be a direct violation of the CEFTA agreement and added that the World Trade Organisation should react to this stand of the Kosovo administration.
UNMIK is the signatory of the CEFTA agreement on behalf of Kosovo, so this agreement is an obligation for the Kosovo Chamber of Economy as well, Bugarin said.
