Skopje, 17 June: An attempt by Kosovo to hike customs tariffs on Macedonian products is causing anxiety in Skopje, reads the latest report of London Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR).
Macedonian exporters say they will be hard hit if Kosovo succeeds in its attempt to hike customs tariffs on more than a dozen of the country's products.
"Low transport costs and previously favourable customs rates have made Kosovo highly attractive for Macedonian business. The protectorate, Macedonia's second-biggest trading partner after Germany, is pushing for a tax of 10 per cent on around 15 of the country's main exports, lasting until at least 2010," reads the report.
"Macedonian goods are currently subject to tariffs of just 1 per cent under a free trade agreement signed in 1996 between Skopje and Belgrade. But that agreement expired in 2004 and Kosovo's United Nations administration, UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo], is now insisting the tax is increased," the document reads.
"Macedonia's Chamber of Commerce, which has a representative on the negotiating team working out the new tax regime, worries that higher export duties will make the country's products less competitive in the Kosovo market. Others agree that Kosovo, with its proximity to Macedonia, is too attractive to be abandoned by exporters despite the tax increase," reads the latest report of IWPR.
Source: MIA news agency, Skopje, in English 1220 gmt 17 Jun 05
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5 comments:
Is this why there has been so much good spirit shown by the Macedonaian government lately?
One saying goes, "the pumpkin doesn't float forever."
Good. That will teach them a lesson. The level of arrogance shown by fyromians has reached record levels as of lately, and they need to be brought down to Earth.
Complete equality or nothing!
Arrogant albanians of Serbia should not talk bad about the Macedonians since Macedonia is feeding your people.
Hey FYROMian
It's FYROM that is reaping the benefit by exporting without taxes.
So it's gonna be your little statelet that is going to be hit, not Kosova.
Soon enough, Kosova will be exporting, at least to Albanians in FYROM, and your profit will be even smaller.
So be careful.
Your so called country is under fire from all quarters, you don't want to make enemies of Albanians as well.
The Bulgarians don't accept your language, the Serbs don't accept your church, the Greeks don't accept your name.
Basically you're Orthodox Bulgarians who migrated to live in a land called Macedonia since ancient times. And you're trying desperately to invent, or rather steal, an identity which is not yours.
But that ain't gonna happen.
so long FYROMian
Tosi
Sweden
Increasing customs on Macedonian products will increase competitivness of local products. The same should be done with Serbian products.
Local produce should have an advantage, not the other way around.
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