CCIS: Agreement Between Great Britain and EU Important for Serbian Exporters Too

The free trade agreement between the EU and Great Britain is important, due to exports, for Serbian companies as well, which, along with European companies, are part of the global supply chain, the director of the Sector for Strategic Analyses, Services and Internationalization of the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (CCIS), Mihailo Vesovic, says for Tanjug.

– The agreement signed between the EU and Great Britain will have a positive impact on many Serbian companies which are part of the global supply chain, primarily with the European companies which further sell their products in the British market – Vesovic estimated.

By January 1, Serbia will not be able to sign a free trade agreement with London, he points out and emphasizes that the agreement of the EU and Great Britain is nevertheless a step closer to an agreement between Serbia and Great Britain too.

– This agreement opens the door to it, because it enables the process of making new agreements with countries like Serbia – he said and added that the CCIS had been discussing the issue with the state organs of Serbia and representatives of the U.K. administration for nine months.

The total annual trade between Serbia and Great Britain is around EUR 500 million, the exchange of services exceeds that amount, and Great Britain is the second most important market for Serbia when it comes to the export services.

– Our export of goods to the United Kingdom is bigger than our import, so we have a surplus there, as is the case with the exchange of services. For the Serbian economy, it is extremely important for a new free trade agreement to be signed as soon as possible – he said.

We primarily export IT and TC services to Great Britain, and as for the goods, we mostly export tires and vehicle components, as well as machine processing parts, and the export of raspberries and frozen fruit and vegetables is significant as well.

– From January 1, both the export and the import of goods will be burdened by general customs fees, because we will enter a period without a signed free trade agreement. The goods sent to Britain will have to be accompanied by a confirmation of non-preferential origin, issued by the CCIS – Vesovic explains.

He says that the chamber and the state administration of Serbia aim for a new trade agreement with Britain to be signed as soon as possible, so that those customs rates would be lowered.

– It is extremely important not to lose the space we’ve won in that market by not having a free trade agreement – Vesovic concluded.

Privredna komora Srbije

CCIS

Mihailo Vesović

Brexit

trade agreement

export to Great Britain