Free trade areas in Europe

Vui said that he was convinced that it was the best initiative in the last few decades. He also mentioned that he does not want to deal with the issue who wants to join or not, and that it is a decision he leaves to others.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic on Friday signed a free trade deal with the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, EAEU, in Moscow, after the EU warned that it will closely monitor such relations, as Serbia is a candidate for joining the European Union.

Beside Brnabic, the deal was signed by the Prime Ministers of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.

Bosnia-Herzegovin' s Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Minister Mirko Sarovic said, commenting on Pristina's measures, aimed also against goods from central Serbia, that there was no need to resort to countermeasures - but that BiH's response could be a request for the exclusion of Kosovo from agreements that guarantee free trade.

Connectivity among the Western Balkan countries will be the main topic of the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia on May 17, according to the Montenegrin government's platform, which BIRN has seen.

EU Commissioner for Enlargement Johannes Hahn's support for the creation of a common market in the Western Balkans, raised during the recent summit of six leaders in Sarajevo, has drawn little enthusiasm in Kosovo and Albania.

BELGRADE - The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is one of the few successful regional initiatives with tangible results over the past 10 years and more, Serbian Minister of Trade Rasim Ljajic said Wednesday.

The CEFTA countries are Serbia's second largest foreign trade partner - second only to the EU - and Serbia now has a 2.1 bln euro surplus with the CEFTA countries.

The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is a rare successful regional initiative with tangible results over the past ten or so years.

Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism, and Telecommunications and Deputy PM Rasim Ljajic said this on Monday in Belgrade during a conference marking the trade deal's tenth anniversary.

BRUSSELS - As the 2017 CEFTA chair, Serbia will focus on strengthening and deepening the implementation of the Central European Free Trade Agreement, a Brussels panel was told Wednesday as Serbia presented the priorities of its CEFTA chairmanship.

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.