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13 minutes agoReciprocity via CEFTA to Serbia
Periskopi(7 years ago)
(7 years ago)Any move Serbia has decided in its report with Kosovo, in response, may have the introduction of reciprocal measures from Kosovo in relation to Serbia. Thus have warned the two parties currently in talks on forming the future Kosovo government, the Vetevendosje Movement, as the winner of the elections and the Democratic League of Kosovo, as [...]
Any move Serbia has decided in its report with Kosovo, in response, may have the introduction of reciprocal measures from Kosovo in relation to Serbia. Thus have warned the two parties currently in talks on forming the future government of Kosovo, the Vetevendosje Movement, as the winner of the elections and the Democratic League of Kosovo as the second party.
The reciprocity measures, according to these two political parties, will be to replace the 100 per cent tax, which Kosovo's outgoing Government has imposed since November 2018 on all imports from Serbia, but also Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Vetevendosje Movement Chairman Albin Kurti, who is also the candidate for Kosovo prime minister, has already stated several times that he is willing to replace the 100 per cent tax with reciprocity measures.
These measures, according to him, will include Kosovo's same actions in reporting with Serbia against trade with goods, certificates of merchandise production, vehicle plates, whether for the circulation of travellers or goods, university diplomas, spending, and so on.
Government officials on the run from Kosovo say the official Pristina has sufficient space to implement reciprocal measures against Belgrade and official Sarajevo.
Dervisoli goals, director of the Trade Department under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, tell Radio Free Europe that neither tariff nor reciprocity are welcome in trade between states.
But at the moment, as she says, that one state begins to change its behavior to the other country, with which it has contractual trade relations, as Kosovo has several countries in the region through the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), then it is allowed to implement the same measures also by the state that has been damaged.
“Reciprocity should be implemented only in those cases, when one country undergos a different treatment of another country. For example, I am illustrating, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina exercise unfair trade practices towards Kosovo, then Kosovo can do that. I'm always talking about international practices. Serbia does not recognise the license plates of Kosovo vehicles, nor does it recognise trade documents, so travel documents, then Kosovo can apply the same action to atrophied states”, Dervisolli explains.
One of the most important trade agreements Kosovo has signed is the Free Trade Agreement with Central European countries (CEFTA), which has not rarely faced obstacles from its member states. CEFTA member states, besides Kosovo, are also Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Moldova.
On the other hand, representatives of the business community and experts on economic issues give different assessments about the application of the measures, whether tax or reciprocal.
The executive director at the American Economic Ode in Pristina, Arrian Zeka, says trade exchange barriers between countries of the region exist, but he stresses that any tax or non-tariff barrier is contrary to the spirit or vows Kosovo has undertaken with the signing of the Free Trade Agreement.
According to him, there are concrete mechanisms in the Free Trade Agreement that enable the address and resolution of the tariff and non-tariff problems between the member states of the agreement.
The American Economic Ode's call to the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Government of Kosovo has been to exploit these mechanisms under the CEFTA agreement, envisioning the resolution of any trade dispute between the signatories of the” agreement, Zeka says Radio Free Europe.
On the other hand, Berim Ramosaj, professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Pristina, considers the government's tax on goods unreasoned. Nor does he agree with candidate proposal for prime minister Albin Kurti for this customs duty to be replaced more reciprocity.
“Taking into account the international community's stance towards Kosovo and dialogue (Kosovo-Serbia), I think that Kosovo with these potentials and with this political position it has, cannot guide and no comfort to behave almost is a state of full sovereignty and a state that can create such” mechanisms.
Kosovo is in that position for suggestions coming from the United States to be exit guides from this situation and to move forward in the construction state” process, Ramosaj estimates.
The United States and the European Union have consistently called for the suspension, or even the abolition of this tax, as it was seen as a cause for Serbia to withdraw from the negotiating table with Kosovo until the removal of customs duties or taxes.
The outgoing government of Kosovo, November 21, 2018, had imposed a 100 per cent tax on imports from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in response to the policies of these two states against Kosovo citizenship and its membership in international mechanisms and organisations.
