As Chair of CEFTA and the SEE Investment Committee (SEEIC), BIH will have a particularly important role in the sector of trade and investment in 2013.
“For CEFTA 2006 the parties agreed that the CEFTA structures would be actively involved in the preparation and implementation of Strategies SEE 2020, keeping in mind that they have, of the 11 proposed goals of this strategy, four connected with trade”, announced the Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH Ermina Salkičević-Dizdarević for Fena.
She added that BIH would work to further facilitate regional trade by simplyfing procedures and regulations governing trade, eliminating unnecessary barriers in trade, as well as the promotion of investment.
Salkičević-Dizdarević said that after Croatia enters the EU and leaves CEFTA, Croatian business people, in relation to the other signatories of the agreement, would apply contractual obligations from the Stabilization and Association Agreement that the EU has concluded with certain CEFTA countries.
“Also, Croatian withdrawal from the CEFTA agreement would stop the preferential duty-free regime in trade that Croatia is now using on the basis of this agreement. This means that for certain groups of products (milk and dairy products, confectionary, meat and tobacco products) from Croatia would have tariffs applied. At the same time, the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) and the interim agreement on trade and trade issues between BiH and the EU, which was in force prior to the entry of SAA, should be changed in a way for Croatia to become a party. This is what the rest of the 27 EU member states and on the preparation of the added protocol are actively working on”, explained Salkičević-Dizdarević.
She asserts the during BiH’s chair of CEFTA, the country would be provided with additional opportunities through the liberalization of trade in agricultural products and the removal of barriers to trade between the CEFTA parties, particularly with countries to which BiH exports products.
“In the first half of 2013 we expect a meeting of a working group for trade services, where they will consider resources for starting negotiations on the liberalization of trade services between the CEFTA parties, in sectors for which every CEFTA party shows interst’’, said Salkičević-Dizdarević.
According to her, the Ministry for Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BIH is working on the development of production, attracting foreign investment and the equalization of our companies with CEFTA countries, as well as EU business people with whom we have concluded trade relations. The goal would be the improvement of competitiveness of our business people in exporting to foreign markets.
“During 2012 BiH chaired the Committee on Customs and Origin in the framework of the trade agreement of CEFTA. As a result of the presidency, there was an improvement in trade relations when it comes to the treatment of goods at the border crossing and in the harmonization of working hours at border crossings for 24 hours so that the goods would not be retained for longer’’, said Salkičević-Dizdarević.
