The terms of trade with Serbia will become more liberal

On July 10, 2021, the Agreement on a Free Trade Zone between the Eurasian Economic Union and its member states and the Republic of Serbia (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement) enters into force. The Agreement was signed on October 25, 2019, after which the parties to the Agreement carried out the necessary domestic procedures for its ratification.

The agreement provides for the mutual abolition of import customs duties on 93% of the commodity nomenclature. For such export-sensitive goods as cigarettes, processed cheeses and strong alcoholic beverages, a duty-free regime will be provided only within certain tariff quotas. To protect national producers, the parties retained customs duties on poultry meat, sugar, certain types of fabrics, a compressor, and vehicles.

The agreement is based on the rules of the World Trade Organization. The parties agreed on the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical regulation measures only on the basis of international principles. This means that it is impossible to unreasonably restrict the access of goods of the EAEU member states to Serbia. Also, in accordance with the Agreement, the parties guarantee the protection of intellectual property rights.

The agreement was concluded with the aim of expanding the sales market for goods produced in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union by providing preferential import conditions to the territory of Serbia. The potential for increasing the export of Kazakhstani goods to the Serbian market is more than $ 250 million US dollars.

These are mainly products of the petrochemical, metallurgical, food, machine-building, chemical industries, as well as construction materials. While the volume of mutual trade between Kazakhstan and Serbia in 2020 amounted to 15.7 million US dollars, and in January-April 2021 - 3.2 million US dollars.

The main export goods from Kazakhstan to Serbia are: natural gas, flax seeds, plastic products. The main import goods to Kazakhstan from Serbia are: mixed mineral fertilizers, aluminum bars and profiles, rebar.