The President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Marko Cadez, stated that Serbia and Croatia have an annual trade exchange of around one billion euros and that more than 1,000 companies that are majority owned by Croatian companies or individuals currently operate in Serbia.
“Numerous Croatian companies have bought companies in Serbia, and more and more companies from Serbia are successfully investing in the Croatian economy. Economic cooperation was not interrupted either when political relations between the two countries were strained or when the world was closed by a coronavirus pandemic,” Cadez said in an interview.
1,039 companies majority owned by Croatian companies and citizens are registered with the Business Registers Agency, and it is estimated that Croatian companies have so far invested almost 900 million euros in Serbia, initially and through business.
Cadez said that according to official data from the Central Register of Compulsory Social Insurance, Croatian companies in Serbia employ about 10,000 workers.
“It is of key importance for all countries in this area that our governments remove mutual barriers as soon as possible, that we make business easier for our companies. I have reminded many times so far that neither the best roads nor the fastest railways will help economies much if we do not speed up the flow of goods. If we do not shorten the waiting time and harmonize the work of inspection and other border services, if we do not establish green lanes at the main border crossings between the Western Balkan economies and neighboring EU member states, which Brussels supported,” Cadez said.
According to him, during the coronavirus pandemic, it was proven in practice that this was possible, because green corridors were established in the Western Balkans, which enabled goods whose transport is a priority to travel through the region faster than ever.
“At the same time, at the Batrovci – Bajakovo crossing, in the last two weeks, trucks have been waiting for us to enter the EU in kilometer-long columns, on average three hours, and in some days eight to ten hours. Neither guilty nor obligated businessmen, including Croatian companies which do business here, therefore pay additional highways to their carriers and penalties to partners in Croatia, Slovenia, anywhere in the EU,” said Cadez.
The President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce estimated that there is room for improving economic cooperation with Croatia in almost all economic branches, but we still need a lot of time and effort to increase capacities and mutual trade, so that one day it reaches five billion dollars.
The current trade between the two countries has been around one billion euros a year for several years, starting in 2017. According to the data of the Republic Bureau of Statistics, producers from Serbia placed products worth 568 million euros on the Croatian market in 2019, and Croatian producers in Serbia 518.5 million euros.
“Significant economic potential lies in improving cross-border cooperation between municipalities on both sides. Due to its strategic position, this area is suitable for industrial development and can contribute to increasing exports of products to the EU market,” said Cadez, adding that small national economies are an essential issue for the former Yugoslavia to develop higher forms of cooperation, Kurir reports.
