Cadez: Economic Chambers of Serbia and Croatia Harmonize Propositions on Easier Flow of Goods

The expert teams of the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (CCIS) and the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK) have harmonized the propositions of companies on the easier flow of goods, that is, on the crossing of trucks across the border checkpoints between the two states, stated Marko Cadez, the president of the CCIS, and announced that the positions of the business communities would soon be forwarded to the governments of Croatia and Serbia.

In an interview for Croatia’s “Poslovni dnevnik”, Cadez said that, after the meeting of the experts of both business communities in Vinkovci in May 2022, the analytics teams of the two chambers worked during June on the final harmonization and shaping of the propositions which would not long after be forwarded to the governments of the two states.

– The acceleration of the flow of goods and the reduction of delay times at border crossings between Croatia and Serbia is of mutual interest of our economies, which are connected more than we can even imagine, but also of foreign companies, which transport goods to purchasers in the European Union or to the Rijeka port toward other world markets. That would be our best joint response to the current crisis that both economies are facing – Cadez said.

Through the Batrovci-Bajakovo road crossing alone, 378,000 trucks pass in both directions each year, and the delay times at the border are unacceptably long – around six hours on average, Cadez said and pointed out that it caused great damage to the economy on both sides of the border, increased costs for producers, forwarders and end-clients and made the goods non-competitive:

– To overcome some problems, we don’t need a lot of money, but good will, agreement and better organization. With small infrastructural investments and investments in equipment, we would reduce the jams and considerably accelerate border crossing if we harmonized the work hours of the border services, increased the number of customs and inspection officials and entrance-exit lanes and secured two lanes in the interborder space and a priority passing of trucks with easily spoiled goods and buses on regular lines.

When it comes to rail crossings, what’s needed, he adds, is to establish phytosanitary and veterinarian control on both sides of the border.

– In the long term, the construction of a joint rail terminal which would unload road traffic in a more permanent sense, as well as the realization of the existing projects of improving gas infrastructure, would considerably facilitate and secure the business operations of companies in both Serbia and Croatia – the president of the CCIS said, among other things, in his interview for “Poslovni dnevnik”.

Privredna komora Srbije

HGK - Hrvatska gospodarska komora Zagreb

CCIS

HGK

road crossing Batrovci Bajakovo

Marko Čadež

easier flow of goods

propositions

harmonization

joint rail terminal

Serbian Croatian business relations