The Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Turkey entered into force on 1 September 2010, following the ratification by Turkish parliament on 7 May 2010. The Agreement between the two countries was signed last year, 1 June 2009, and ratified by Serbian parliament on 11 December 2009 same year.
This agreement is one of the three bilateral free trade agreements Serbia has signed. Previously, agreements were signed with Russian Federation and Belarus. These agreements, together with multilateral agreements Serbia signed with EU, CEFTA and EFTA countries, created new possibilities for Serbian exporting companies by opening free trade market of over 1 billion inhabitants in total.
The agreement between Turkey and Serbia will be implemented in accordance with an asymmetric trade liberalization model, leading to establishment of a free trade area on all their trade between them after a transitional period lasting a maximum of six years starting from entry into force of this agreement. The agreement is divided into four chapters, as per the type of goods and products traded: industrial products; agricultural and fishery products; services and investments; and common provisions.
Trade in industrial products is liberalized in accordance with asymmetrical model applied in Stabilization and Association Agreement between EC and Serbia, with positive exception for Serbia in importing certain textile products and nonferrous and ferrous metallurgic products with extended liberalization period. Article 4 of the Agreement prescribes that all custom duties on export goods into Turkey of originating in Serbia shall be abolished immediately upon entering into force of the agreement.
On the other side, custom duties on imports into Serbia of goods originating in Turkey will be progressively abolished, depending on the sensitivity of goods imported, in three stages, from 2012 to 2015. It is estimated that in this arrangement the biggest benefit for Serbia will be in import of textile raw materials that may increase export of textile finished products.
Liberalization in trading with agricultural and fishery products is related solely to products of herbal origin and fishery products. Asymmetrical quotation is agreed for 14 products on Turkish side and for 38 products on Serbian side.
Based on the solid grounds of the Double tax treaty agreement between Serbia and Turkey, together with many other bilateral agreements, the Free Trade Agreement between Serbia and Turkey confirms strong ties between the two countries, both economical and cultural. It is expected that the trade volume between the two countries will reach USD 1 billion by the end of 2012, what would be a significant increase compared to its historical peak in 2008, amounting to USD 476.7 million.
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