Brussels, 11/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - With the conclusion on 11 January of a bilateral agreement on access to the goods and services market with the EU, Serbia has taken a further step towards accession to World Trade organisation (WTO), the multilateral body which governs world trade. The agreement signed on Tuesday by Serbian Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic and Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht comprises provisions on tariffs for trade in goods and the reciprocal opening of the partners' respective services markets. These commitments will be embodied in the Protocol of Accession of the Republic of Serbia to the WTO. “Serbia has made remarkable progress in preparing for WTO entry and the EU remains a strong supporter of its swift WTO accession,” said De Gucht in a press release. This signing “represents a step closer to our final goal and we are confident that it will help in finishing the rest of the bilateral negotiations in the WTO in the months to come. If we find the same constructive attitude with other partners, we are ready to finish accession negotiations by the end of this year,” stated Dinkic.
Serbia is well on the way to concluding the WTO accession negotiations which began in 2005. It has already signed bilateral goods and services market access agreements at the WTO with Japan, Norway and Honduras, and is likely to conclude similar agreements with Canada and South Korea in the very near future. Negotiations with the United States, China, Panama and Switzerland are continuing, and its accession to the WTO has also to be approved by a multilateral working group at the Organisation's headquarters in Geneva. (E.H./transl.rt)