Why is CEFTA important for Kosovo?

Thus says Arrian Zeka, chairman of the American Economic Ode in Kosovo, under which to be part of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), has helped Kosovo improve the quality of products.

The framework of the Agreement, aimed at increasing trade in goods and services, eliminating trade barriers between the parties, and attracting investments, are the six Western Balkan countries, plus Moldova, since 2006.

Previous and founders of CEFTA have left it, following their EU membership. Implementation of the Agreement is a prerequisite for other countries aimed at integration in the European bloc, writes Radio Free Europe.

How was CEFTA actualised?

Her name has often been mentioned in recent days, following a request made to Kosovo by Germany's envoy for the Western Balkans, Manuel Sarrazin, for removing a ban on goods produced in Serbia, because this is against CEFTA principles.

In exchange, the German diplomat has offered that Kosovo be represented in CEFTA by its name, with an introduction, and not through the United Nations Organisation Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has not complied.

The Kosovo government has banned imports from Serbia in June 2023, with the argument that they are endangering Kosovo's security, and that, through them, weapons can enter the country.

However, Kosovo authorities have never come up with any appreciative report on how this measure has affected the security level.

For Zeka, this move has hit the commercial interests of Kosovo partners.

“E has considered paradoxical measures, while simultaneously following the import of semi-products and raw materials, while on the other hand, final goods, which are largely produced by foreign-owned companies in Serbia, are talking about American capital and European capital, are not allowed to enter the territory of the Republic of Kosovo”, Zeka considers.

He also says that Kosovo's benefits from CEFTA are multidimensional, while citing:

Improving the offer, or increasing Kosovo's authenticity in the eyes of foreign investors;

Following economic reforms;

The radical change in export structure, product types, and brands of goods.

Both Zeka and Naim Rashit, director of the Balkan Policy Group in Pristina, tell Radio Free Europe that Kosovo should quickly abolish the ban on imports from Serbia.

Kosovo must remove these measures and act as a leading actress, as an important and fair actress, and reliable in regional common trade”, Rashi says.

Instead of stopping, Zeka and Rashi believe Kosovo should use the legal mechanisms envisioned by CEFTA to complain about trade barriers imposed by Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For preventing imports from Serbia, Kosovo has also been criticised in this year's report by the US State Department on climate and doing business in Kosovo.

It has been said that the “ban has caused great confusion to importers and has negatively affected foreign subject-owned companies in Kosovo, due to the disruption in the supply chain”.

In the Progress Report for Kosovo, for 2023, the European Commission has said that the stop is contrary to the spirit of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, which constitutes Kosovo's only contractual agreement with the EU.

Why is the request being repeated now?

Rashit believes the German insistence lies in preparations for the upcoming meeting under the Berlin Process ʹthe formal EU policy platform to the Balkan region and for new regional agreements aimed at reaching it.

The Berlin process aims to help develop the region and prepare it for membership in the European bloc.

German Ambassador to Kosovo Jorn Rohde has warned that if necessary, Balkan countries will move towards regional co-operation even without Kosovo.

Rashit says some Balkan countries -- Serbia, Bosnia and some elements within Montenegro -- want this scenario, so Kosovo should not allow that.

The Berlin Process and all organisations that have descended from it, or joined the role of the Berlin Process, are the only instrument where Kosovo sits equal to other countries. Kosovo should, at all costs, do its best to keep its country and to postpone its agenda”, Rashi estimates.

For more, according to him, any eventual failure of the Berlin Process helps to demonstrate or revive other initiatives, such as the Open Balkans, which have been consistently rejected by Kosovo.

Zeka fears for the unforeseen “consequences” from such economic-political isolation of Kosovo, but does not see the Government's readiness to remove the blockade, considering the upcoming elections are near.