ISDS Case Map
CEFTA
Central European Free Trade Agreement
The Serbian Economy Ministry announced earlier this week that the country would ratify the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in September, ending its status as the only country in the region not to have done so.
Prime Ministers of South Eastern European countries and territories have today signed a new Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA).
The drive to create a free trade area in the Western Balkans ended more or less successfully on October 20, after negotiations closed on extending the Central European Free Trade Area, CEFTA. Trade integration is nothing new for the Western Balkans, where countries have signed at least 32 bilateral agreements freeing the movement of goods and services. “CEFTA will turn the spaghetti bowl into a lasagne,” said an EC official.
Suspension of the free trade agreement between Moldova and Romania on January 1, 2007, when Romania is expected to join the European Union (E.U.), will poise the trade balance between the two states, according to Mircea Toader, undersecretary of the Romanian Ministry of Economy and Commerce.
Following EU accession, Romania will gradually withdraw from all free trade agreements.
The European Union will give strong support to efforts by the continent's southeastern countries, most of them in the Balkans, to sign a regional free trade deal this year, EU officials said on Monday.
The European Commission has proposed replacing the existing web of bilateral trade agreements in the Balkans with a regional free trade agreement -- a move it says would boost economic prospects. However, the idea has met with opposition in Croatia.
All Balkans countries are headed for European Union membership, but they are taking different roads, and at differing pace.
This report looks at major Customs Unions, Free Trade Areas, and economic
association agreements around the world, with particular attention to any clauses
covering social issues, core labour standards and trade union participation.
