PRISTINA (Kosovo), August 19 (SeeNews) – Kosovo’s government decided to ban imports of honey and potatoes from North Macedonia after in June the government in Skopje introduced custom duties on imports of fish and roe from Kosovo, trade and industry minister Endrit Shala said.
North Macedonia’s economy minister has failed to respond to a letter of complaint on the matter sent two months ago, Shala said in a press release on Friday.
Shala added that he has also filed a complaint with the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) secretariat.
In early August, North Macedonia’s agriculture minister Trajan Dimkovski said that the tariff on fish and roe concerns imports not only from Kosovo, but from all countries that have not implemented monitoring standards and cannot ptovide guarantees on the safety of these products.
In November, Kosovo imposed a 100% tariff on imports from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Kosovo's decision has resulted in direct damages estimated at 46.1 million euro ($51.6 million) for the Serbian economy between November 21 and December 31, Serbian trade minister Rasim Ljajic said earlier.
Serbia and Bosnia do not recognise the independence of Kosovo, the former southern province of Serbia populated predominantly by ethnic Albanians.
Kosovo, considered to be a potential candidate for EU membership by the European Commission, unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and has so far has been recognised by more than half of the 193 UN member states.
($ = 0.9015 euro)