Serbia too benefits from TTIP agreement

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a trade agreement on which the EU negotiates with the USA, could bring Europe's economy sector annual profits of EUR 119 billion, and this agreement would also benefit Serbia once it becomes a full-right member of the European Union, it was said Monday (9 February 2015) at a meeting in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

Ambassador and senior adviser for trade promotion at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Junas Hafstrem, said that TTIP would benefit not only the USA and EU members, but also trade partners all around the world.

He believes that reducing the customs duties and scrapping the unnecessary procedures would help all companies and economies as well as increase the employment rate.

- These negotiations also affect Serbia and its citizens because the country is in the EU integration process. Serbia's trade with the EU accounts for 64.3 percent of the country's overall trade at the moment - he noted.

Head of Serbia's team for negotiations with the EU, Tanja Miscevic, said that it was good to talk about TTIP on time in order for our country to be able to apply it in the best way it can the moment it enters the European Union.

Miscević reminded that Serbia was in early phase of negotiations on foreign policy and foreign trade policy, adding that they were awaiting a screening report on chapter 30 focusing on economic relations with foreign countries.

She reiterated that Serbia would join all negotiations between the EU and the USA as soon as it had become a member of the EU.