TIRANA, March 03 – Kosovo Finance Minister Abdulla Hoti held a visit to Tirana to meet with his host counterpart Shkelqim Cani aiming at closer ties between the administrations of the two countries. Both ministers agreed to sign a bilateral deal for a joint customs border crossing office.
The two ministers discussed in detail the cooperation between the two countries and talked on ways to facilitate the exchange between them. Customs administration on both sides of the border holds regular meetings to consolidate their partnership.
The two countries have already agreed on joint transiting which has turned the customs into virtual ones, facilitating a lot the work of the businesses.
Nevertheless there are still unresolved issues between the two countries; it was mentioned during the talks. They agreed to create soon a joint working group to coordinate the work of both administration, approximation of the customs procedures and the customs legislation in general. They want to turn the one-stop customs point all along the border between the two countries.
Fighting informality, corruption and harmonizing the procedures were among the main topics of discussion.
Exchange in 2014 has been 177 million euros, or 3.6 percent of the Albanian imports. Imports from Kosovo fell by 25.6 percent compared to a year ago. Exports in Kosovo covered 21.7 percent of the total imports for Albania, or 10.7 percent more than a year ago.
