CEFTA exists as an association and it should be used as such. The concrete economic interest in defining that zone of trade is the need to simplify business and facilitate investments in this region, which is also in the EU's interests, the HGK said.
Croatia has bilateral agreements with all countries of the Western Balkans, which in turn have such agreements with one another.
Even if a multilateral agreement is signed, a period of adjustment is required, the HGK said, recalling that Croatia and Macedonia have a free trade zone, but that there are segments which hamper stronger and better trade.
"The proposed zone should remove all possible barriers, but the question arises how countries with such different levels of development would be able to function within such a zone without certain corrective factors or a period of adjustment," the HGK said.
It went on to say that Croatia could draw certain benefits from such a union only in the short run.
"Our interests are EU standards in our society and full membership as the final result of adjustment of our society. Certainly, this does not rule out cooperation in the region, but we advocate full membership in the EU through membership of CEFTA".
The HGK also says that in the political sense the concept of a Western Balkan trade zone is dangerous because it shows that the EU still lacks a clear concept regarding the settlement of relations in the region, which primarily refers to Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the dynamics of integration of those countries with the EU.