The new railway from Belgrade to the border with Northern Macedonia will bring new investments, safer and more environmentally friendly transport, lower costs and greater competition for the entire region. Thanks to bilateral agreements from 2019, Serbia and Northern Macedonia are showing great progress in facilitating trade and removing barriers, says Mihailo Vesovic, director of the Sector for Strategic Analysis, Services and Internationalization of PKS.
In an interview with the Macedonian group of portals (biznisinfo.mk, standard.mk and lokalno.mk), Vesovic said that the economic relations between Serbia and Northern Macedonia, which are on the rise, are based on dynamic trade, but in addition to trade there are real opportunities for even greater investment and greater economic cooperation.
– I see greater cooperation between our countries primarily through the joint involvement of Serbian and Macedonian companies in performing works on mutual infrastructural connections, such as, for example, the construction of a transmission line network between Nis and Stip, construction of gas connection Vranje-Kumanovo, reconstruction of Budapest-Belgrade- Skopje railway – stated Vesovic.
Although trade between the two countries in 2020 amounted to 860.5 million euros and was lower by 4.2% compared to the year before, and exports to Northern Macedonia decreased by 4.6% compared to 2019, this year we expect that our trade will exceed the psychological limit of one billion euros, Vesovic pointed out, stating that the growth of trade of as much as 4.9% in the first quarter of this year, the growth of exports from Serbia to Northern Macedonia of 12.5 in relation to the first quarter of 2020, and imports increased by as much as 23.3%.
When it comes to the region, business is still accompanied by obstacles, which are most often the result of non-compliance of certificates that accompany goods. We do not have direct payment transactions between certain markets, we have different standards for certain products, we do not apply electronic documents enough, and in some markets we even have cases of restrictions on trade in non-tariff barriers. In this sense, the Mini Schengen initiative can contribute to accelerating economic development, EU integration and improving good neighborly relations. Therefore, we support any initiative that will accelerate the creation of a common regional market, Vesovic said.
The Board of Directors of the Comoros Investment Forum recently formed a special unit whose task will be to intensify our joint activities to attract investment. We want to make the most of all our benefits brought by the expected implementation of the Common Regional Market, as well as the implementation of the EU economic and investment plan for the Western Balkans. In postcovid time, we see a great chance in the field of transformation of global value chains, so-called “nearshoring” in which large systems look for suppliers at nearby manufacturing sites.
When it comes to roads and transport, Serbia and Northern Macedonia are in the lead in relation to the region because they already have an integrated border crossing and, from 2019, joint control at the Presevo-Tabanovce crossing. Thanks to harmonized regulations and procedures, certificates, working hours of border services, trucks with goods pass without being detained at the border, eKapija reports.
