Over the next three days, representatives of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and the UN Mission in Kosovo will negotiate on the text of the deal which is expected to replace the 31 free trade bilateral agreements existing among those countries.
The Croatian delegation is led by the state secretary at the Economy Ministry, Vladimir Vrankovic.
The notion of creating a single free trade zone in Southeast Europe is strongly supported by the European Union and the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe. At Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's suggestion, it was accepted that this be done by expanding CEFTA to include the countries not yet covered by it.