UNMIK/PR/1262
PRISTINA – UNMIK is pleased to announce that the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina has informed UNMIK that they have finalised internal procedures and want to start talks on a free trade agreement with Kosovo.
A free trade agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina will enhance Kosovo’s economic integration into the region and will stimulate regional trade. It will also increase the number of countries from where Kosovo can import and to where Kosovo can export more easily. The talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina are expected to start soon.
This follows the formal opening of talks on a free trade agreement with Macedonian authorities in the last week. The first round of negotiations with Skopje should take place in the next couple of weeks.
Kosovo has already signed a Free Trade Agreement with Albania in July last year. The FTA has increased the trade flows between Albania and Kosovo to the benefit of the two parties. Kosovo also has preferential status for its trade with the European Union, and can export its products to the EU without customs taxes.
Free trade agreements are one element to support the development of Kosovo’s economy and in particular to attract investors who want to produce for a larger market. Other measures taken recently to stimulate economic activity in Kosovo include a reduction of the customs tax to zero percent on the import of capital goods and certain intermediary goods, inward processing relief and the possibility of establishing ‘free zones’ where companies can import production inputs destined for manufacturing for export, and a VAT exemption on agricultural inputs.