The Representation in Brussels welcomes Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations
The Republic of Srpska Representation in Brussels had a great pleasure to welcome the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Mr. Stasa Kosarac due to his three-day visit to Brussels where he arrived to officially take over Bosnia-Herzegovina’s presidency of the CEFTA Agreement and Structures.
During a friendly and very constructive conversation, our guest had the opportunity to get better acquainted with the work of Representation as well as to discuss possible models of cooperation and other activities in the future.
In addittion, Minister Kosarac emphasized that the basis for the BiH Presidency will be the implementation of the CEFTA Agreement and its additional protocols, as well as the Multi-annual Action Plan for the Regional Economic Area, from which the priorities of the BiH Presidency are derived.
The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is a trade agreement between non-EU countries, members of which are now mostly located in Southeastern Europe. Founded by representatives of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, CEFTA expanded to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and the UNMIK (on behalf of Kosovo in accordance with UNSCR 1244).
Once a participating country joins the European Union (EU), its CEFTA membership ends. As of 1 July 2013, the parties of the CEFTA agreement are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and the UNMIK on behalf of Kosovo.
The original CEFTA agreement was signed by the Visegrád Group countries, that is by Poland, Hungary and Czech and Slovak republics (at the time parts of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic) on 21 December 1992 in Kraków, Poland. It came into force in July 1994. Through CEFTA, participating countries hoped to mobilize efforts to integrate into Western European institutions and through this, to join European political, economic, security and legal systems, thereby consolidating democracy and free-market economics.