“It’s time businesses of both countries are given more space and more institutional support so that trade exchanges are used for long-term capital investment,” said Kosovo Economic Development Minister Beqaj
TIRANA, Aug. 12 – Kosovo’s ban on Serbian and Bosnian exports on measures of reciprocity has presented a good chance for Albanian and Kosovo businesses to increase trade exchanges and look toward long-term investments. This was confirmed by Besim Beqaj, Kosovo’s Minister for Economic Development, who visited Albania last week along with a group of Kosovo entrepreneurs to discuss cooperation opportunities which have arisen since Kosovo banned exports with Serbian custom stamps and imposed a 10 percent import tax on Bosnian goods.
“It’s time businesses of both countries are given more space and more institutional support so that trade exchanges are used for long-term capital investment,” said Beqaj during a meeting with Albania’s Deputy Economy Minister Enno Bozdo.
Meanwhile, Kosovo’s Business Alliance signed a cooperation deal with the Tirana Chamber of Commerce and Industry to increase information exchange.
Nikolin Jaka, the head of the Tirana Chamber of Commerce, said energy is the most promising sector for increasing trade exchanges between the two countries. The Albanian and Kosovo governments are building a 400 kw interconnection lines to increase transmission capacities.
Anastas Angjeli, a former Finance Minister of the opposition Socialist Party, called on Albanian businesses to consider this situation of trade embargo between Kosovo and its former key trade partner not only as assistance to temporarily meet the needs of the Kosovo market, but also a mission to establish new regional cooperation opportunities.
Kosovo and Albanian businessmen from the construction, trade and industry sectors participated in the forum called “Increasing Albania-Kosovo trade exchanges under current conditions.”
Croatia, Albania and Bulgaria are profiting most from Kosovo’s trade ban with Serbia. Kosovo mostly imported vegetables, wheat and oil before the trade ban was imposed on July 20.
However, Business Albania, a Tirana-based business association is skeptical Albania could replace Serbia especially with regard to grains– which is the main product Kosovo imports from Serbia.
“Even if Kosovo’s ban to Serbian products continues, Albania has few chances of replacing the grain market because of high costs,” says Luan Bregasi, the president of Business Albania.
He thinks the decision currently provides positive results for Albanian businesses only thanks to a temporary and technical decision. According to Business Albania, Albanian exporters can gain ground in Kosovo only through exchange of products and their competitiveness.
The situation mostly favors Albanian construction materials which are already successfully exported to Kosovo.
Albanian authorities have recently agreed to remove reference prices for Kosovo products, a trade barrier which has prevented Kosovo agricultural exporters from entering the Albanian market during this year.
According to official data, Albanian exports to Kosovo rose to 72 million Euros in 2010, up 40 percent compared to 2009 while imports increased by 28 percent to 27 million Euros. The construction of Durres-Kukes highway linking the two countries in the shortest possible way has also had a positive impact.
Latest INSTAT data rank neighboring Kosovo as the third biggest destination of Albanian exports after Italy and Turkey. Data show Albanian exports to Kosovo during the first half of 2011 rose to around 5.7 billion lek, up from 4.1 billion lek during the same period last year, accounting for 5.7 percent of total Albanian exports.
Meanwhile, imports from Kosovo have risen to 2.2 billion lek, up from 1.7 billion lek during the first half of 2010 accounting for around 1 percent of total imports.
