LJAJIC: Serbia not to join Eurasian Economic Union, free trade agreement to be signed

Serbia is not entering the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), contrary to the recent speculations in local and regional media; instead, it is to sign a free trade agreement, the kind it’s had with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and has with Turkey or the CEFTA countries, says the Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of Serbia, Rasim Ljajic.

– This is not some kind of a new SAA, no politics, just trade. The EAEU has decided for the unification of all free trade agreements they had with third countries to begin – Ljajic told Politika.

The Belgrade newspaper explains that the EAEU has expanded to Armenia and Kyrgyzstan and that it has decided to harmonize the free trade agreements with third countries, Serbia included.

– If Serbia had said that it didn’t want to sign the agreement, our free trade agreement with Russia would have been compromised. This agreement is not signed by Serbia only, but also by all the other countries which had free trade agreements with the EAEU members – Ljajic explains.

He adds that, once it joins the single market and the EU, Serbia will have to terminate this trade agreement and all the other current free trade agreements and those it makes in the meantime.

On October 25, Serbia should sign the agreement with the EAEU which will replace the existing ones and which will entail an expanded list of goods, adding cheese, alcohol and cigarettes.

The free trade agreement should provide the Serbian economy with access to a market of 180 million people in countries whose total GDP exceeds the amount of USD 1,900 billion.

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

Ministry of Trade Tourism and Telecommunications

Rasim Ljajic

Eurasian Economic Union

EAEU

trade

EU

cheese

alcohol

cigarettes

free trade