Ukraine and Serbia agree to resume work on concluding free trade agreement
Ukraine and Serbia have agreed to resume work on concluding a free trade agreement, the Office of the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration has said.
"Today in Belgrade, Serbia, Vice Prime Minister Taras Kachka and Minister of Domestic and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Serbia Jagoda Lazarevic signed a Joint Statement on the resumption of negotiations on concluding a free trade agreement between the governments of Ukraine and the Republic of Serbia and agreed on further steps on this path," the report of the Office says.
The future agreement is expected to contribute to export growth, improve conditions for market access for goods in Ukraine and Serbia, create new jobs, facilitate the exchange of experience and strengthen economic ties between the countries in various sectors.
"Work on concluding a free trade agreement is an important stage in the development of Ukrainian-Serbian relations and will contribute to a significant deepening of bilateral trade and industrial integration. The importance of the future Agreement lies not only in opening markets for goods, but also in creating regional production chains. This will allow companies to combine resources from different countries while maintaining tariff preferences," the press service quotes Kachka as saying.
It is noted that a separate provision envisions the possibility of applying diagonal cumulation, which will allow manufacturers of both countries to use raw materials and components from countries with which free trade agreements have been concluded and which are parties to the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin without losing preferential origin status.