Kosovo minister says Belgrade is fulfilling the trade agreement

Serbian customs officials are respecting the new deal on trade exports from Kosovo but Kosovo businesses have yet to take advantage of the new market, Kosovo Trade and Industry Minister Mimoza Kusari-Lila has said.

Kusari-Lila said that seven trucks carrying Kosovo-made products had been allowed to enter Serbia, which had being interpreted as a positive sign that Belgrade was respecting the trade arrangement.

“Their documents, tax and origins certificates were Kosovo ones. Serbia’s customs made them pay the country’s taxes, and everything was fine…For us shows that [Belgrade] if fulfilling the agreement,” she said.

However Kusari-Lila said the government was not happy with the flow of trade traffic between the two countries as Kosovo companies were still being hesitant in reorienting their market.

She said that Kosovo’s businessmen had lost faith in Belgrade’s commitment to lift the embargo to their products. In contrast to the seven Kosovo export trucks which entered Serbia, some 700 Serbian export trucks entered Kosovo.