TIRANE: Albania and Kosovo are taking steps for a new cooperation chapter which include the establishment of a joint customs terminal to facilitate transport of goods.
Some reports suggest that the two countries shall be unified in the long term due to their ethnic unity. However, integration of the two markets remains a major challenge. Although many years have passed and the entrepreneurial experience is more than enough, the markets of Albania and Kosovo remain isolated and inaccessible to the producers and traders. For years barriers have existed that prevent interaction and distance the two countries with same ethnicity.
“The procedures are long, tedious and very discouraging. This is a handicap that kneels down our trade exchange. There is a great barrier between Albania and Kosovo, which hampers interaction and cooperation, and which has artificially removed instead of approaching the two Albanian areas,” said the Albanian Premier.
Albania has proposed for resolving several issues immediately. Albanian viewpoint states that it is impossible to move ahead without having a joint customs terminal between Albania and Kosovo. “The establishment of a common terminal and customs offices is a must to facilitate trade,” said Edi Rama, the Albanian Prime Minister.
He said that Kosovo’s goods to Serbia reach their destination within four hours, while to Albania it takes two days, because of repeated bureaucratic procedures. “The creation of joint terminals and customs offices is a necessity to make it easier in all aspects. The approach will not only include logistics but is also a unification of procedures, a drastic reduction of controls and processing time, and also for reducing evasion and illegal traffic,” Rama declared.
