International fair, given great space to businesses from Serbia

These Serbian companies have announced participation in the fair, where 170 companies from the country, the region and the world are expected to participate.

The strong participation of companies from Serbia has caused disappointment in local companies last year by not participating in the fair at all. The big interest in participating in the fair shows that Kosovo market continues to be filled with goods from Serbia.

Import of products from Serbia, according to official data, is on the rise year-on-year. According to official data, there are about 400m euros annually in various products imported from Serbia, thus becoming the largest importer in Kosovo. While Kosovo exports to Serbia for the same period amount to no more than 35m euros.

But Kosovo Economic Ode Chairman Safet Gerjaliu says politics should be divided from the economy and that this is the international fair that cannot limit any company, even that from Serbia.

He said companies from Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, will also participate in the fair, but from other countries in the region.

Gerxhaliu indicated that the international fair in Kosovo will begin April 18th and will last 3 days, where over 170 companies from the country, the region and the world with a multi-sectorial nature will participate.

According to him, the fair will also be the arena for promoting many domestic companies abroad.

According to Gerxhaliu, businesses have shown more success than politics, which makes him proud of business integration routes to European states.

He even emphasises that the fair and economic co-operation must mechanism to approach interests, and life the biggest and most powerful lobbyist of minimising political tensions.

Gerxhaliu has criticised the deployment of road fees on the Way of the Nation on the part of the Albanian state, as a new perspective is being opened to companies from Macedonia, Montenegro, and in particular companies from Serbia, which has a large capacity of products that may be challenging.

Otherwise, even at last year's fair, a large number of businesses from Serbia have been participating, for which some Kosovo companies had boycotted participating in the fair.

One of them is Burim Piraj, who runs the Maca meat factory.

Piraj said that even this year they will not participate in this fair due to the participation of businesses from Serbia.

Serbia ignores us, doesn't know us at all, doesn't even allow us to transfer products, asking us to apply as Serbian firms. I don't understand when our firms want to participate in fairs they don't allow us and how it's possible that we're allowing them. I'm interested that when they applied to participate in the fair, the application was made in Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo. Of course I won't participate, last year we withdrew, and this year we will not participate at all”, Piraj told the KP.