On July 1, the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement officially came into effect. This is the first free trade agreement my country has signed with a Central and Eastern European country, and it is also the 22nd free trade agreement my country has signed with a foreign country.
The effective implementation of the agreement will effectively promote China-Serbia economic and trade cooperation
The effective implementation of the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement will further stimulate the potential of trade and investment cooperation between the two countries, help improve the quality and upgrade of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and bring benefits to the enterprises and people of the two countries.
After the agreement takes effect, the two sides will gradually cancel tariffs on 90% of the tax items. Among them, more than 60% of the tax items will immediately cancel tariffs on the day the agreement takes effect. The final proportion of imports from both sides with zero-tariff items will reach about 95%. At the same time, the agreement has established institutional arrangements in many areas such as rules of origin, customs procedures and trade facilitation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical trade barriers, trade remedies, dispute settlement, intellectual property protection, investment cooperation, competition, etc., and will provide Enterprises from both countries provide a more convenient, transparent and stable business environment.
After the agreement takes effect, when my country's automobiles, photovoltaic modules, lithium batteries, communication equipment, mechanical equipment, refractory materials and some agricultural and aquatic products enter the Serbian market, import tariffs will gradually drop from the current 5% to 20% to zero. When Serbian generators, electric motors, tires, beef, wine, nuts and other products enter the Chinese market, import tariffs will gradually drop from the current 5% to 20% to zero.
This will not only promote the growth of bilateral trade and enable consumers of both countries to enjoy more, better and more favorable imported products, but will also promote investment cooperation and industrial chain integration between the two parties, better leverage their respective comparative advantages, and jointly enhance international competitiveness.
