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Kosovo is no longer represented by UNMIK in CEFTA

2024-10-09 16:54:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Kosovo will now be represented by its institutions and officials in the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), following a decision by the CEFTA Joint Committee to accept its request to remove UNMIK from the role of representative.

The Minister of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade of Kosovo, Rozeta Hajdari, said on Wednesday in a press conference that "from today, in the meetings of the joint committees, Kosovo will be represented by its institutions and without the presence of UNMIK".

Kosovo had been represented in CEFTA - the agreement aimed at increasing trade in goods and services, eliminating trade barriers between the parties and attracting investment - through the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) since 2007, when it joined it.

"Participation through UNMIK in CEFTA has finally been withdrawn, this is the result of many efforts and commitment of Kosovo to adjust its position in this mechanism", said Hajdari after the meeting of the CEFTA Joint Committee, chaired by from Serbia, in Belgrade.

She said that Kosovo made this request in 2021 and since then had blocked the work in CEFTA to put pressure on the acceptance of its request.

"There were 13 decisions sent awaiting approval since our letter was sent... it was Kosovo's commitment not to approve these decisions without Kosovo's request to leave UNMIK being approved, which was Kosovo's first request in meetings in these three years", she added.

All those decisions, according to her, were approved after the acceptance of Kosovo's request, causing the work in CEFTA to be unblocked.

This news was first announced by the German ambassador in Pristina, Jorn Rohde, who said that this is a "big step" towards equal representation and participation in this regional body.

"Really good news for Kosovo and the entire region: CEFTA has been unblocked and from now on Kosovo will be represented by its own officials, as it should be, and not by UNMIK," Rohde wrote in X.

The expert on economic issues, Sytrime Dervisholli, considers this decision one of the most important news in recent years.

"It is known that UNMIK was present at the CEFTA meetings, not that it had a decision-making role, but it was present nonetheless. After this decision, Kosovo will sit at the table without the presence of UNMIK and this is a very big achievement", said Dervisholli, who for five years (2015-2020) led the Department of Trade in the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade.

In addition, she said that several barriers faced by production companies from Kosovo, which were mainly presented by the state of Serbia, will be eliminated.

"Producers from Kosovo, when they have exported to the state of Serbia, especially in the Preševo ??Valley, but even if they have used the Serbian territory as a transit country, Belgrade authorities have often forced businesses not to write on their products the country of origin Kosovo, but put the acronym UNMIK/KOSOVO", she said.

In many cases, she says, businesses from Kosovo have not accepted this designation.

This change, which Kosovo has been asking for for a long time, came two days after the Government of Kosovo decided to lift the ban on the import of Serbian goods at the Merdare crossing.

Kosovo faced pressure in recent weeks to lift the ban on Serbian goods, especially from Germany.

Germany has insisted that banning the import of goods from Serbia harms the CEFTA agreement and the Berlin Process, an initiative aimed at helping the economic development of the six Western Balkan countries and bringing them closer to the European Union.

Germany's special envoy for the Western Balkans, Manuel Sarrazin, stayed in Kosovo several times in recent months, where he warned that the ban on Serbian goods was blocking the work of CEFTA, and that, because of it, Kosovo was jeopardizing participation in the Process. of Berlin.

The tenth summit of the Berlin Process takes place on October 14.

After the request of Kosovar officials for the name change, Germany offered a "solution" in exchange for lifting the ban on the import of goods from Serbia.

Sarrazin emphasized that next to Kosovo's name in CEFTA there would be an asterisk, or a footnote, indicating that Kosovo's status has not been finally resolved.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said on Monday when he announced the lifting of the ban on Serbian goods, that he expects Kosovo to be represented by its own name at the next meeting.

CEFTA member states are Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Moldova.

Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia withdrew from CEFTA after their EU membership./ Rel