UZBEKISTAN

As Vakhtang Tsintsadze, the Deputy Economy Minister of Georgia, said on Monday, “record” figures in both exports and imports, contributing to similarly high external trade turnover numbers, were achieved in 2024.
He emphasised on the programmes aimed at boosting the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises and fostering local production implemented by the Government.
The growth of economic activity is anticipated, the overall economic landscape is expected to be enhanced and incomes of the population to be improved in the coming years.
According to The National Statistics Office, today the country’s external trade turnover achieved $23.42 billion last year (an eight percent year-on-year increase), exports grew up by 7.8 percent ($6.56 billion), while imports increased by 8.1 percent ($16.86 billion in total).
NH Logistics GEO has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Georgia and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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A third direct air route to China has been recently added by Serbian national carrier Air Serbia.
Now there are direct flights from Belgrade to Guangzhou, Tianjin and Shanghai.
Air Serbia’s Chief Executive Officer Jiri Marek came to Shanghai with the first flight on January 11 and visited the headquarters of Chinese online travel agency Trip.Com Group. There is a mutual visa exemption agreement for tourists between the two countries since 2016.
Both countries eliminated tariffs on 90 percent of the goods imported from each other according to the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement that came into effect last July.
As Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said during Air Serbia’s Belgrade-Shanghai inaugural flight ceremony on Jan. 10, bilateral trade between China and Serbia almost achieved EUR7 billion (USD7.2 billion) last year. Serbia accepted nearly 147,000 Chinese tourists in the period.
From Chinese part, Hainan Airlines has launched flights from Beijing to Belgrade since July 2022, and China Southern Airlines launched direct flights on the Guangzhou – Belgrade route last September.
China’s international flight network layout has tended towards countries along the Belt and Road Initiative after the Covid-19 pandemic. 178 airlines have been approved to fly between China and 79 countries by the Civil Aviation Administration of China this winter-spring season. 57 of them were BRI countries (10,326 weekly flights or 53 percent of the total).
NH Logistics SER has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Serbia and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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Data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia report that China was the largest Serbia’s import partner in 2024 (USD 481.6 million), and Germany was its largest export partner (USD 363.6 million).
60% of Serbia’s total trade in goods the EU were accounted for in 2023. The Statistical Office reports that in spite of increase of Serbia’s foreign trade in goods by 3.9% in January- September 2024, the trade deficit grew up by 20.4% compared to the same period last year. The deficit with China attained USD 316.5 million, with Germany -USD 89.6 million. Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Italy and Romania are the most important foreign trade partners in exports in September 2024, while China, Germany, Italy, Turkey and Poland are the most important partners in imports.
About 60% of goods are exempted from customs duties according to a Free Trade Agreement signed by Serbia with China on July 1, 2024. Nevertheless, Serbia is still not included in Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). Serbia can carry out financial transactions with the EU easily, but it can’t get commission costs reduced. As the National Bank of Serbia says, that the process of harmonizing domestic banking systems with SEPA standards has been underway since 2014, and they are only waiting for the green light from the European Union. According to Bloomberg, Serbia’s entry into SEPA could take up to two months compared to the originally planned deadline – January 1, 2025.
As the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia states in the December edition of MAT (Macroeconomic Analysis and Trends), Serbia has found an alternative to subdued demand from the EU this year in the markets of China and Turkey and achieved a 1.9% growth in goods exports.
The same data show an increase of exports by 65% to China and by 80% to Turkey from September 2023 to September 2024.
As the EU states for You website, four billion euros in grants and seven billion euros in soft loans have been invested by the European Union in the last ten years. Contraversely, data from the National Bank of Serbia show that China invested EUR 5.5 billion in the period from 2010 to 2023.
The 15 largest exporters from Serbia in 2023 had the export value of seven billion euros. Bloomberg reports that Chinese companies that sell copper, gold and steel on foreign markets (China Railway International Co Ltd, China Communications Construction Company Ltd., Linglong International) achieved a third of that amount.
NH Logistics SER has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Serbia and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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