The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić said in the Assembly of Serbia that the negotiations on the rate of taxation on imported cigarettes from Croatia to Serbia are in their final stage. However, he pointed out that there is no final agreement yet, nothing has been signed, and that the decision must ultimately be confirmed by parliament.

In an answer to the question of the opposition in the Assembly of Serbia, Ljajić said that Serbia sent a letter today to the European Commission (EC) in which it said that it accepts the methodology, which means, he explained, that Serbia “wants to talk”.

He mentioned that negotiations have been going on since last November, but with the European Commission and not with Croatia, adding that this has nothing to do with the visit of the Croatian President Ivo Josipović to Serbia, rather that it”has to do with the report of the European Commission”, and that there was a “threat that the report will be colored by the fact that no agreement was reached”.

He explained that this is not the exception, but the rule that the EU uses when a member state enters the European Union in order to protect it and allow it to be as prepared as possible for full membership.

Ljajić noted that Croatia had to abide by the rules when its major trading partners, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia joined the EU.

According to him, the unfavorable position of Serbia regarding the import of Croatian cigarettes comes from the agreement with Croatia on tariffs for certain goods, whichstipulates that the tariff rate for imported cigarettes is 15%and our export to Croatia 38%.

This, he explained, resulted in Serbia not selling a single truck, while Croatia sold as much as 1600 tons annually.

Ljajić added that upon entering the CEFTA, we acquired the tariff rates that were effective on the basis of the agree mentthat the countries had.

He said that Serbia, however, can be expected to benefit from the export of cigarettes into Croatia with a rate of 0.0%(which used to be 38%), and Belgrade is trying to increase the quota for sugar exports to the EU.

“For the first time we can expect to have increased quota. Itis not easy, I am not saying that we will succeed, but there is optimism”, said the Deputy Minister Rasim Ljajić.