TIRANA, May 17 – Albania and Serbia have reached a deal to abolish customs duties on agricultural products. This is confirmed by Albania’s deputy Economy Minister Eno Bozdo who says the agreement is aimed at giving a new impetus to trade exchanges between the two countries. “This measure is part of the CEFTA trade agreement to establish a joint market with regional countries and attract more foreign investment,” stated the deputy minister. The majority of agricultural products both countries currently exchange are vegetables. Data show that vegetables account for only 4 percent of Albanian exports to Serbia, and 8 percent of imports from Serbia. Albania’s volume of trade with the region amounted to 64 billion ALL representing 10 percent of the total Albania’s trade volume. Currently eight regional countries including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montengro, Serbia and Kosovo are part of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) between non-EU countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe.
Trade with Serbia up
Albania’s trade volume with Serbia was valued at 19.5 bln ALL having increased by 55 percent. Both exports and imports experienced increases causing the trade deficit to increase by 43% to 15.6 bln ALL. This is due to the fact that the imports value is much higher than exports. This increase of both exports and imports contributed to an increased share to total trade flows of Serbia, by 1 percentage point, which was estimated at 2 percent in 2009. It also contributed to an increase of import coverage ratio by 4 percentage points, which was valued at 11% in 2010. Exports to Serbia reached 1.9 bln ALL, having increased by 139%. The mineral sector, including electrical energy and fuel, constituted the major share of exports for 2010. Export of electric energy represented the most exported product/service and accounts for 78% of total exports to Serbia having experienced an increase of 274% from the previous year. Imports from Serbia reached 17,616 mln ALL having increased by 49%. The share of main metals has arrived at 41%, while their absolute value has increased by 210%. Meanwhile minerals imports dropped 16 percentage points in 2010, while their absolute value decreased by 8 percent. This is mainly due to the decrease of imports of electrical energy, which now is listed as the second main imported product from Serbia, accounting for 26%. The ten most imported products from Serbia account for 82 percent. Imports of other products from the top ten list have experienced increases in values and shares.
