Talks Between Serbia and Great Britain on Trade Agreement Ongoing

Great Britain and Serbia are still talking about a bilateral trade agreement, and the delay is down to the coronavirus pandemic and the parliamentary election in Serbia, stated UK Ambassador to Belgrade Sian MacLeod, adding that Great Britain wanted to reach an agreement on this partnership with Serbia quickly.

– The talks with Serbia are ongoing. The draft agreement is based on the existing Stabilization and Association Agreement between Serbia and the EU. Serbia has not been asked to take any additional obligations upon itself – MacLeod said and added that the draft agreement contained no surprises, the British embassy announced.

According to the ambassador, “the United Kingdom hopes that this agreement will be harmonized soon, so that the difficulties and obstacles to the trade would be reduced to a minimum”.

– The United Kingdom wants a quick agreement on the future trade partnership with Serbia. This is in the interest of business people, companies and consumers in both states – MacLeod said.

She reminded that, after exiting the EU, Great Britain stepped up the efforts to establish bilateral agreements with partner-states, wherever the trade was previously regulated by agreements between those states and the EU.

– These are continuity agreements and are largely based on agreements with the EU, which they are meant to replace. The United Kingdom has signed 63 such agreements, including those with Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo – the British ambassador said and added that she hoped that a similar agreement would soon be signed with Montenegro as well.

As she specified, the negotiations between the UK and Serbia were stopped by the coronavirus epidemic and the declaration of the state of emergency in Serbia in March 2020.

Further delays followed due to the parliamentary election in Serbia in June and the five-month period of formation of the government in Belgrade.

She also reminded that the negotiators of the two countries had met online, right before the expiration of the so-called transition period on December 31, whereby the exit of the United Kingdom from the single market and customs union of the EU was finalized.

Ambasada Velike Britanije Beograd

Sian MacLeod

bilateral trade agreement