A state secretary in the Serbian Foreign Ministry, Radojko Bogojevic, said the CEFTA treaty would help raise living standards in Serbia. He stressed the treaty would also strengthen ties among western Balkan countries and help the entire region to get as prepared as possible for joining the European Union.
Croatian Ambassador in Belgrade Tonci Stancic expressed satisfaction with the fact that the new CEFTA treaty would soon go into force.
"The path to Europe goes through the region," Ambassador Stancic said.
The Belgrade conference, held under the auspices of the Serbian Economy Ministry, os attended by experts from Serbia, ambassadors and trade representatives from CEFTA members countries.
CEFTA is a trade agreement between countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe. On 6 April 2006, at the South East Europe Prime Ministers Summit in Bucharest, a joint declaration on expansion of CEFTA to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNMIK on behalf of Kosovo, Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro was adopted. The new CEFTA treaty has come into force this summer.