The Chamber of Economy of the Federation of BiH responded to the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Staša Košarac, to a meeting on economic cooperation and the improvement of foreign trade exchange with the Republic of Serbia, held on 21 June 2023 at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations in Sarajevo.
Taking advantage of the meeting and guided by direct inquiries from business entities, members of the Chamber of Economy of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Vice President of the Chamber of Economy of the Federation of BiH, Mirsad Jašarspahić, directly asked Minister Momirović at the meeting about the concrete barriers currently imposed by the Republic of Serbia, thereby preventing further improvement of the common regional market. He insisted on using and activating all the tools offered by the agreements signed so far, such as CEFTA and the adopted signed action plan Common Regional Market 2021-2014, and noted that the possible effects announced by advocates of the “Open Balkans” lie in the obligations arising from existing agreements that are not being implemented.
He emphasized the Memorandum on Economic Cooperation in Third Markets signed in 2014, which has not produced a single concrete initiative to date.
As an example of existing barriers, he asked the visiting Minister how it is that manufacturers of roadside safety barriers cannot place their products on the market of the Republic of Serbia despite having all standards and meeting the technical regulations accepted by the Republic of Serbia through the adopted harmonized standard SRPS EN 1317, because the implementation of the Technical Instruction of JP Putevi Srbije is required, which hides additional conditions that eliminate other bidders, which is a typical example of a hidden non-tariff barrier.
Another example is from the wood industry, where an additional phytosanitary inspection is charged at the border for euro pallets that already bear the ISPM 15 heat-treatment stamp and as such go to the EU territory without any problems.
Also, Vice President Jašarspahić directly asked the visiting Minister whether there had ever been any discussion at sessions of the Government of Serbia about paying fees for the previous use of the hydropower potential of the Drina River for the existing Zvornik and Bajina Bašta hydroelectric plants.
Finally, due to the excessive and populist talk about the alleged openness and outstretched hands to Bosnia and Herzegovina, he asked the Minister how it is that, among all complaints about hidden and non-tariff barriers occurring within the CEFTA region, the largest number relates precisely to barriers imposed in various ways by the Republic of Serbia.
We did not receive an adequate answer to any of the questions asked, nor an open willingness to resolve them.
Precisely because of all this, we are surprised that the Bosnian and Herzegovinian sector minister stated that the business community supports the “Open Balkans” initiative.
It is now clear that the meeting, convened as a meeting on economic cooperation and the improvement of foreign trade exchange with the Republic of Serbia, was in fact conceived as a political performance and designed in political Belgrade, not in the business community.
Therefore, the Chamber of Economy of the Federation of BiH insists on the implementation of the CEFTA agreement and CRM 21-24. POINT
