Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Reforms and Development of the PABiH, Ermina Salkičević–Dizdarević, holds meeting in Brussels with Director of the CEFTA Secretariat

A Member of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PABiH) and Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Reforms and Development of the PABiH, Ermina Salkičević-Dizdarević, held a meeting in Brussels with the Director of the CEFTA Secretariat, Pranvera Kastrati.

During the meeting, discussions focused on current trade challenges within the framework of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), with particular emphasis on the unilateral introduction of quotas on certain steel products, as well as the negative consequences such measures have for domestic producers and the steel industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Director of the CEFTA Secretariat underscored the importance of the consistent implementation of the Agreement, transparency and institutional dialogue, as well as the role of CEFTA mechanisms in addressing all trade-related issues with the aim of preventing trade restrictions. She provided a detailed explanation of the procedures and mechanisms available to each Party.

MP Salkičević-Dizdarević emphasised that the protection of domestic production and the preservation of jobs in the steel industry are matters of strategic importance for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that it is unacceptable for trade barriers to be introduced without consultations and contrary to the spirit of regional cooperation and the applicable rules of the CEFTA 2006 Agreement. “The essence of trade agreements is to preserve the predictability of the trade framework, and by introducing unilateral measures which, by all indications, the Republic of Serbia has imposed on Bosnia and Herzegovina without any consultations or prior notice, that neighbouring country is seriously undermining the obligations assumed within the CEFTA Parties,” MP Salkičević-Dizdarević stressed, adding that it is now for the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina to initiate all available mechanisms to protect domestic production, as well as to ensure the consistent implementation of the CEFTA Agreement. (End)