EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mirko Šarovic, today signed a deal on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This agreement is a key step for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s path to becoming a Member of the international trade body. Accession to the WTO is expected to make a lasting contribution to the process of economic reform and sustainable development in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Today’s signature is a milestone in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s WTO accession process and an important step towards fostering our economic relations”,said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht. “The EU strongly supports the WTO accession of our neighbours. We believe that Bosnia and Herzegovina has made remarkable progress in preparing for WTO entry and hope to welcome them into the WTO family very soon“.
Minister Mirko Šarovic said: “Bosnia and Herzegovina is committed to become an active member of the multilateral trading system and has invested serious efforts in this respect. The inestimable support provided by the EU is delivering positive results. Today’s event represents a step closer to our final common goal and we are confident that it will help in finishing the rest of the bilateral negotiations in the WTO in the months to come. If we find the same constructive attitude with other partners, we could become WTO members in 2013.”
The bilateral deal provides for the lowering of tariffs for trade in goods and for the opening of services markets upon accession. These commitments will be then embodied in the future Protocol of Accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the WTO.
