ZAGREB/BUCHAREST, July 11 (Hina) - The second round of talks on an agreement to amend the Central Europe Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) will take place on July 25 and the organisation is expected to expand its membership by the end of
the year, the Croatian Minister of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship, Branko Vukelic, said on Tuesday following a meeting of the Joint Committee of CEFTA member states in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
ZAGREB/BUCHAREST, July 11 (Hina) - The second round of talks on an
agreement to amend the Central Europe Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) will take
place on July 25 and the organisation is expected to expand its membership by
the end of the year, the Croatian Minister of the Economy, Labour and
Entrepreneurship, Branko Vukelic, said on Tuesday following a meeting of the
Joint Committee of CEFTA member states in the Romanian capital Bucharest. Talks are under way with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova,
Montenegro, and Serbia to enter CEFTA simultaneously, and expansion of the
organisation will further boost trade in Southeast Europe, Vukelic told Hina in
a telephone interview.
Croatia's trade with CEFTA members Bulgaria and Romania increased 65
per cent last year, reaching USD558.5 million, while in the first five months
of this year it rose 12.5 per cent to USD235.8 million.
The Bucharest meeting also focused on the withdrawal of Bulgaria and
Romania from CEFTA membership if the two countries join the European Union in
2007, in which case Croatia would become CEFTA's depositary, meaning that all
of the organisation's archives would be deposited in Croatia in order to ensure
normal work after January 1, 2007.
Vukelic said that Macedonia was expected to become a full member of
CEFTA next month.