Serbian businessmen plan to have distribution and trade centers built in the north of Kosovo

Serbian businessmen, with the support of the Government of Serbia, are preparing a concrete strategy for opening distribution and trade centers in the north of Kosovo, which should help them conquer the market of Kosovo.

Unnamed source said that the state of Serbia "plans to register distribution companies in the north part of Kosovo to distribute the goods from Serbia on the whole territory of Kosovo".

According to that source, the goods from Serbia would be entering the north part of Kosovo through the crossings in Leposavić and Zubin Potok where only the customs officials of EULEX do the customs-clearing.

The Secretary of the Economic Chamber of Kosovo, Berat Rukići, asked the institutions of Kosovo and international representatives in Kosovo to reinforce border control in the north of Kosovo and "make pressure on Serbian 'authorities' to respect the CEFTA Agreement".

- If Serbia does not respect that Agreement, that the market of Kosovo is in great danger because of the goods made in Serbia - said Rukići.

On the other hand, the spokesperson of the Kosovo Customs Administration, Adriatik Staviljeci, said that "everything is in order if such centers pay all the taxes for export of goods to Kosovo, but if they avoid the taxes, then that will be considered as smuggling".

Since the beginning of this year, Serbia has exported 148m EUR worth of goods to Kosovo.