"Priština, not Serbia, violated CEFTA agreement"

Head of Belgrade's team in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Borislav Stefanovic qualified as untrue a statement of a U.S. official that Serbia violated had CEFTA. The statement claiming that Serbia violated the regional free trade deal several years earlier was this week made by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman. "Pristina, not Serbia, violated CEFTA agreement" "This statement represents an attempt to justify Pristina's decision to introduce an embargo on trade. I have to say that Serbia did not introduce any block toward the so-called Kosovo and Kosovo goods two years ago, while Pristina unilaterally changed this and violated the CEFTA agreement,” Stefanovic told Tanjug. In an interview for the Voice of America on Tuesday, Countryman expressed regret over the ban on import of Serbian goods which the Pristina government recently introduced and added that Serbia launched the same embargo on Kosovo goods two and a half years ago, which is illegal according to the CEFTA agreement. We will not allow pressures, Stefanovic said and added that this is an attempt of prejudicing the dialogue and we cannot agree to that, just like we cannot recognise Kosovo's independence either implicitly or explicitly, Stefanovic said. The Serbian side has already taken certain steps, he noted and added that Belgrade has already initiated urgent procedure to overturn the decision with the EU, CEFTA and UNMIK and that this is expected to happen in the next period. He expressed belief that everyone in the international community supports the dialogue and that the U.S. is expected to continue backing it as well. In its statement, the EU confirmed that Pristina's move is harmful and added that it would monitor further developments, which means that the EU and Serbia would invest joint efforts in order to correct Pristina's harmful unilateral move and re-introduce this topic into the agenda which is the only way to have this issue resolved, Stefanovic recalled. "By this move, Pristina is encouraging illegal trade and this is why we call for this harmful decision to be withdrawn as soon as possible," Stefanovic said. He noted that all this would not affect the further development of the dialogue, which would go on because it is the only way to find solutions to problems. Stefanovic stated that there have been no contacts with Pristina since the adoption of this decision but that Belgrade is willing to conduct talks with Edita Tahiri and anyone else at all times, because this is the only way to have problems solved.

"Priština, not Serbia, violated CEFTA agreement"

"This statement represents an attempt to justify Priština's decision to introduce an embargo on trade. I have to say that Serbia did not introduce any block toward the so-called Kosovo and Kosovo goods two years ago, while Priština unilaterally changed this and violated the CEFTA agreement,” Stefanović told Tanjug.

In an interview for the Voice of America on Tuesday, Countryman expressed regret over the ban on import of Serbian goods which the Priština government recently introduced and added that Serbia launched the same embargo on Kosovo goods two and a half years ago, which is illegal according to the CEFTA agreement.

We will not allow pressures, Stefanović said and added that this is an attempt of prejudicing the dialogue and we cannot agree to that, just like we cannot recognise Kosovo's independence either implicitly or explicitly, Stefanović said.

The Serbian side has already taken certain steps, he noted and added that Belgrade has already initiated urgent procedure to overturn the decision with the EU, CEFTA and UNMIK and that this is expected to happen in the next period.

He expressed belief that everyone in the international community supports the dialogue and that the U.S. is expected to continue backing it as well.

In its statement, the EU confirmed that Priština's move is harmful and added that it would monitor further developments, which means that the EU and Serbia would invest joint efforts in order to correct Priština's harmful unilateral move and re-introduce this topic into the agenda which is the only way to have this issue resolved, Stefanović recalled.

"By this move, Priština is encouraging illegal trade and this is why we call for this harmful decision to be withdrawn as soon as possible," Stefanović said.

He noted that all this would not affect the further development of the dialogue, which would go on because it is the only way to find solutions to problems.

Stefanović stated that there have been no contacts with Priština since the adoption of this decision but that Belgrade is willing to conduct talks with Edita Tahiri and anyone else at all times, because this is the only way to have problems solved.