Serbia’s one-year presidency over the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) has been assumed. The consolidation and boosting of the implementation of the agreement, the facilitation of the trade of goods and services between the parties to the agreement and digitization will be in its focus, among other things, in the next year.
When it comes to the volume of the trade, the CEFTA market is the second biggest partner for the Serbian economy, right behind the EU. The amount of EUR 5.4 billion was reached by Serbia’s trade with the CEFTA member-countries in the first 11 months of 2023. According to the acting director of the CEFTA Secretariat, Danijela Gacevic, the presiding over the CEFTA will be a good opportunity for Serbia to prove itself as a constructive and reliable partner. Serbia will not only preside over a joint committee as the most important decision-making body, but also have the opportunity to head other subcommittees, that is, technical bodies, in which discussions important for certain aspects of the agreement will be had.
Several aspects make the presidency important. The first one is the ability of the party that presides and runs the processes to prepare the agenda and to have questions which are important at that moment. The second one is the opportunity for the presiding country to show itself as a constructive and reliable partner, which has adequate capacities to run regional processes from the aspect of European and regional integration. The last one is the ability of the presiding party to show itself as a good host.
Gacevic adds that that Serbia will also preside over the subcommittee for non-tariff measures, the subcommittee for the trade of services and the committee for trade facilities in addition to presiding over the joint committee as the most important decision-making body within the agreement.
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