European Free Trade Association

Bosnian farmers will now have to pay tarrifs if they want to export their produce to the EU market after January 1, after Brussels suspended a trade liberalisation deal.

"The European Parliament decided ... to suspend the trade preferences granted unilaterally by the EU to Bosnia and Herzegovina," Zora Stanic, the spokesperson of the EU delegation in Sarajevo, told BIRN on Tuesday.

Turkey is more expensive than a few European countries but it remains cheaper than a majority of the continent, according to a new comparative purchasing power parity index released June 19 by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜ?K).

However, car prices stood above European levels, as did the prices of alcoholic beverages, tobacco and consumer electronics.

Bulgaria's government has proposed to parliament to ratify the agreement with Norway to avoid double taxation of income.

The agreement was signed in July of last year to update the regulation framework governing the bilateral economic relations, the cabinet said in a statement on Wednesday.

BELGRADE - The Serbian government adopted on Thursday a bill confirming the convention on the joint transit procedure and a bill confirming the convention on the simplification of certain formalities in trade in goods.

VIENNA - Serbia is a good place for the business interests of Austrian companies, which could earn joint profit with Serbian businessmen, President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Marko Cadez said at the Business Forum in Vienna on Tuesday.

Iceland has officially renounced its EU membership bid, according to an official statement.

The country's Foreign Minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson has already informed the Latvian EU Presidency and the EU Commission and has stressed "the importance of continued strong relations and cooperation between Iceland and the EU, including on the basis of the EEA Agreement."

Bulgaria will be granted EUR 126.6 M for the next five-year period under bilateral and multilateral European Economic Area (EEA) financial mechanisms.

This emerged after political consultations between Bulgaria and Norway at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers, which took place in Sofia on Monday, the ministry's press service reports.

EU international trade in services increased in 2013, with EU exports of services to the rest of the world rising by 5%, from ?676 billion in 2012 to ?710 bn in 2013, and EU imports by 3%, from ?515 bn to ?532 bn. As a result, the EU surplus in trade in services increased in 2013 to ?178 bn, compared with +?161 bn in 2012.

Iceland is planning to try again to withdraw its application to join the EU, Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson has said.

"Participating in EU talks isn't really valid anymore," Gunnlaugsson said as quoted by the Reykjavík Grapevine.

BELGRADE - The total trade volume between China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) stands at around USD 50 billion, said Bojana Todorovic, assistant to the Serbian minister of trade, stressing that these countries should act as one in trade with this large and important partner.