Business Communities of Serbia and Croatia are Asking for Simplified Border Procedures

Businessmen of Serbia and Croatia will ask their governments to speed up the flow of goods across all border crossings between the two countries, harmonize the working hours of Croatian and Serbian border inspection services, in order to reduce losses that companies have due to  waiting and complicated procedures at border crossings, it was agreed at the meeting of Marko Čadež, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia and Luka Burilović, President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) in Zagreb.

In the coming days, the expert teams of the two chambers of commerce will analyze the problems of long  border delays of trucks at the crossings of Serbia and Croatia in order to speed up trade between companies in the region, which is especially important given the current crisis in Ukraine.

The presidents of the Serbian and Croatian chambers discussed at a meeting in Zagreb the possibilities for establishing 24/7 working hours of all border and inspection services of the two countries, as well as the possibility of establishing a joint railway station in Vinkovci  where all border controls on both sides would be performed.

Čadež and Burilović discussed cooperation in the field of energy and the need to diversify access to energy for businessmen in the two countries in order to enable companies to work smoothly in the future.

During his stay in Zagreb, the President of CCIS will meet with Sanja Burić, President of the Board of Directors and Damir Spudić, member of the Board of Directors of "Energia Naturalis Group" within which the First Gas Company (PPD) operates in Croatia to discuss possibilities of joint projects of Serbian and Croatian businessmen in the field of gas supply.

Also, the President of CCIS will have meetings with Emil Tedeski, owner and founder of Atlantic Group and Fabrice Peruski, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Forten Group. The meeting will focus on further improvement of economic cooperation in the region and new investments of companies.

The data on trade exchange show that during 2021, the trade between Serbia and Croatia, which is the 14th foreign trade partner of our country, amounted to 1.337 billion euros, which is an increase of 268.3 million euros, or about 25 percent more in compared to 2020.