Kazakhstan is able to increase its exports to Serbia by $ 250 million

The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan has signed the Law on ratification of the Free Trade Agreement between the member States of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Republic of Serbia. The agreement was signed on October 25, 2019. After the entry into force of the Agreement, a duty-free trade regime between the EAEU countries and Serbia will be established for most of the goods. This should significantly facilitate access to the Serbian market for Kazakhstani goods.

"The agreement liberalizes the terms of trade with Serbia through the mutual abolition of import customs duties on 93% of the commodity nomenclature and the provision of quotas for duty-free import of a number of goods. At the same time, in order to protect national producers, the parties provided for the possibility of applying import duties on the most sensitive goods, such as poultry meat, sugar, fabrics, compressors, and vehicles»,- said Zh. Kushukova-Vice-Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

"We estimate the potential for increasing the export of Kazakhstani goods to Serbia is about $250 million. These are products of the petrochemical, metallurgical, food, machine-building, chemical industries, as well as construction materials,"
the Vice - minister explained. The realization of the potential will depend on the activity of domestic producers»,-the Vice-minister noted in conclusion.

Serbia is not a member of the World Trade Organization, but in the framework of this Agreement guarantees the application of international standards in such areas as sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property, dispute resolution, e-commerce, etc. This guarantees predictability and the non-application of unjustified restrictions to Kazakhstani goods on the Serbian market.

In general, the implementation of this Agreement will contribute to the development and strengthening of trade relations between the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Republic of Serbia, to the increase of the volume of mutual trade between the Parties, and to creating favorable conditions for the promotion of Kazakhstani goods on the Serbian market.

Reference information: The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Serbia in 2020 amounted to $15.7 million.  Exports from Kazakhstan to Serbia amounted to $1.8 million. Import to Kazakhstan from Serbia - $13.9 million.