The existence of duty-free barriers represents a major problem for better economic cooperation in the Western Balkans region, said in a statement to Fena the President of the Management Board of AS Group, which is participating in the Economic Forum of Southeast Europe in Washington, which was organized in the US Congress by the Transatlantic Network of Leaders and the European Center of the Atlantic Council. from Washington.
If we look at current economic cooperation in the region, duty-free barriers are a big problem.
“We have a signed CEFTA agreement for countries that are not in the European Union. However, there are a lot of those duty-free barriers where companies from Bosnia and Herzegovina have a hard time entering other markets due to the fact that certain countries introduce these duty-free barriers and prevent the placement of our products on those markets,” says Hrvić.
He states that there were many conversations and inquiries, but, unfortunately, so far they have not had concrete answers and concrete help from Bosnia and Herzegovina. authorities.
It clarifies that these barriers include various additional reviews, some additional analysis. Once his company even had an analysis of the radioactivity of the goods. Then there are additional storage, unloading and loading of goods at the border that need to be paid for.
“We know how to get into a situation where duty-free barriers cost us 10 percent or more of the value of the goods, which can sometimes be as much as the customs duty,” says Hrvić.
Commenting on the proposal presented at the Forum to include people from the private sector in the European integration process, Hrvić says that it would certainly benefit businessmen and people involved in those processes.
“We know from the field what the problems are, what could be fixed… There are a lot of these problems that could be solved very easily. We are not afraid of that open market,” concluded Hrvić.
