November 17 (SeeNews) - Serbia's trade minister Rasim Ljajic said on Friday the country plans to propose changes in the voting rules of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in order to facilitate trade in the region.
Belgrade plans to propose a change in the "unanimous consent minus one vote" rule to make it impossible for a single country to block joint decisions, Ljajic said, as quoted in a statement by the government.
Serbia has secured the consent of the other members of the organisation and plans to propose the change during the upcoming CEFTA Week 2017 conference, to be held in Belgrade between November 20 and 23, Ljajic also said.
The CEFTA agreement has reached its maximum under the current conditions, as trade between its members rose by 75% in ten years, according to data by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), he noted.
However, a country with less than 10 million inhabitants could develop its economy only if its exports account for at least 50% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and for the CEFTA members that ratio stands at 26%, Ljajic added.
The active CEFTA members currently are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) on behalf of Kosovo.