English

Politics has been stronger than the economy

Drecun

Montenegrin companies least benefited from Central European Free Trade Association (CEFTA) in comparison to the companies from other state signatories to the agreement, said the economic analyst, Predrag Drecun. Representatives of the Chamber of Commerce think that the application of CEFTA agreement has contributed to the economic progress of the region and the representatives of the Ministry of Economy, have said that CEFTA is modern and comprehensive agreement, that has significantly changed since it was signed.

There have been announcements recently that the region needs new trade agreement, that will have mechanism for the settlement of problems and disputes and that will be able to sanction those who violate the provisions thereof. It’s been pointed out during the recent business forum held on Kopaonik that the region needs new agreement.

“I’ve been very skeptical about this agreement, not about the idea itself, but the intention of the participants to sign it. Unfortunately, I was right. Everybody cheated in CEFTA, except for Montenegro”, said Mr Drecun.

CEFTA agreement was signed in Bucharest, on 19 December in 2006, between Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and UNMIK Kosovo. It started application on 22 November, 2007. It replaced 32 bilateral agreements that used to be in force and one of the ideas was the preparation for the EU accession.

Mr Drecun also reminded that CEFTA was a psychological preparation.

Last year in November, Kosovo decided to introduce 100% tax on all products from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“CEFTA is an asymmetric agreement, and that breaks the rules of the game. In other words, it creates space for speculation actions based on the differences in trade regime”, claims Mr Drecun.

He said that the agreement predicted the introduction of new areas of cooperation, that haven’t been entailed by the bilateral agreements and older CEFTA – investments, services, public procurement and protection of intellectual property.

However, not much happened since everybody was cheating.

All the signatories of CEFTA agreement obliged to regulate mutual relations while following the principles of World Trade Organization.

According to the representatives of the Ministry of Economy, CEFTA is becoming more and more important in the domain of regional trade exchange. They have also stressed the necessity for consistent, full and efficient application of CEFTA agreement.

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