CEFTA assessment: European Plan for Kosovo, Serbia Good for Regional Market

Therefore, CEFTA Secretariat Director Emir Djikiq says the basic agreement also contributes to the regional market.

If the agreement is as published on the European Union page, yes, it has a positive impact, to speed up the function of the CEFTA agreement, which would bring additional benefits to all sides and make companies more competitive on the regional market, as well as on the European market. So this is the multiple benefit that we can have”, says Gjikiq for Klan Kosova.

Kosovo, however, constantly complains of violations of the CEFTA deal from Serbia. Gjikiq says they accept many, from all sides.

We constantly accept complaints from all sides, for all sides. It depends on the cases, mostly on blocking each other's transit routes. We've received complaints, for example, from Kosovo for Bosnia, for a truck that hasn't turned back, because there have been signs that they didn't agree to in CEFTA”, he says.

Belgrade also poses an obstacle to changing status in this agreement, as it is still represented as UNMIK. All seven votes for this are required for members of the Joint Committee.

“We as the secretariat of CEFTA are the technical body of the agreement, so it is not up to us to accept Kosovo as a state or to do something. At the last meeting of the joint committee, this topic has been raised by Kosovo, but there has been no consensus on parties”, Djikiq says.

However, he estimates that Kosovo has noted progress in regional trade, as it has increased exports with CEFTA member states over the years.