Agreement with Eurasian Economic Commission defined – Unlimited duty free export of sheep and goat cheeses and fruit brandies

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of Serbia Rasim Ljajic and Minister of Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission Veronika Nikishina defined the final version of the free trade agreement between Serbia and the EEC on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, in Moscow.

With this round of talks between Ljajic and Nikishina, all the issues in the negotiations which started in 2016 have been settled.

Ljajic told Tanjug that “a modern free trade agreement was defined in Moscow, in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization and the principles of modern trade practice”.

– In addition to Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, with which we have already had bilateral agreements, the new, unified agreement will pertain to Armenia and Kyrgyzstan – the minister specified.

– We didn't get what we wanted, but we will have more types of goods than before. Our producers will now be able to export unlimited amounts of all kinds of fruit brandies, as well as all kinds of sheep and goat cheeses. Furthermore, we also got a quota of 2,000 tons for the export of cigarettes, as well as 87,500 liters of brandy and 400 tons of semi-hard and hard cow cheese. Other types of cow cheese are already subject to duty-free trade – Ljajic explained.

As he said, in addition to the already mentioned elements, the new agreement also features other elements, which will considerably reduce the operating costs of export and import, allowing Serbian producers to be competitive in the EEC market of over 180 million people.

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

Ministry of Trade of EEC

Rasim Ljajic

Veronika Nikishina

free trade agreement between Serbia and EEC

duty free export of cheese

duty free export of fruit brandies

quotas for export of cigarettes

quotas for export of brandy