It was concluded at the “Agribusiness Serbia” conference in Novi Sad that joint and coordinated work of competent state agencies and institutions, producers and agribusiness is necessary in order to significantly increase the export of agricultural products to the markets of the EU, Russia and other countries.

Addressing the participants of the sixth National conference “Agribusiness Serbia”, organized by the Association “Agropres” and the Novi Sad Fair, State Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Stevan Nikčević noted that the state is undertaking activities and appropriate measures to increase the export of our agricultural products.

Among other things, we are working on the removal of certain barriers to our exports to CEFTA countries, such as the administrative measure which has increased excise duty on imports of beer in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has significantly affected producers in Serbia, who export more than 62 percent of their total exports to that market said Nikčević.

Recalling that the EU and CEFTA member states and the member states of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are the most important markets in which we sell agricultural products, he noted that the EU is still our key foreign trade partner.

Serbia is free of duties when it comes to the export of agricultural products to the EU, but we have a certain quota for the export of sugar, tobacco, meat and meat products and wine, but we manage to fulfill the export quota only when it comes to sugar.

The fact that for many years we have been failing to take advantage of more than 15 percent of the quota for the export of beef and meat products to the EU is bad for our agriculture, and “this is one of the most important fields” where representatives of the state should work together with manufacturers and traders “in terms of incentives”, said Nikčević.

Nikčević stressed the importance of Serbia’s joining the WTO, noting that in this process it is necessary to reach a consensus in our country when it comes to the adoption of the Law on Genetically Modified Organisms.