Statistical data shows that Bosnia’s export to Kosovo is 97 per cent lower in the first two months of 2019 compared to the same period last year, which is the result of the 100 per cent tariffs Kosovo introduced to products coming from Bosnia.
According to Midhat Salic, an assistant to the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, export to Kosovo was worth 17,5 million BAM in January and February 2018, while this year, throughout those two months, it was worth 500,000 BAM.
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He said that, when taking into account the last two months of last year and the first two months of 2019, the country has lost 28,5 million BAM in export.
Kosovo introduced 100 per cent import tariffs for the goods from Bosnia and Serbia in late November last year in response to what Kosovo officials said was Serbia's “aggressive campaign against Kosovo in the international stage.”
The decision came a day after Bosnia and Serbia denied support to Kosovo's membership in the Interpol but this was never cited as an official reason to introduce the taxes.
Officials from Bosnia and Kosovo met in January to discuss the tariffs, he said.
“We communicate and exchange emails, but the public knows that here the problem is politics and not expertise and technical issues. They set their conditions for abolishing the tariffs, but that is within the scope of politics and up to other institutions to solve,” he said.
Serbia and Bosnia are the only two countries in the region which have not yet granted Kosovo recognition as an independent state.
