Chambers of commerce calling for the prevention of incidents in Kosovo

Presidents of the Chambers of Commerce of Serbia and Kosovo – Marko Čadež and Safet Gërxhaliu respectively have addressed a letter to high officials of the EU and ambassadors of the Quint countries in Serbia and Kosovo, condemning recent incidents provoked by the activists of the Self-Determination movement and calling for a response of the international community to prevent the undesirable events from happening again, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia stated.

"The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia and the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, strong proponents for the process of normalisation of the relations between Belgrade and Priština, as well as the social and economic recovery of the Western Balkans on the path to the EU, fiercely condemn the overturning of a loaded truck on 11 March, as well as the attempt to jeopardise the freedom of movement of people and goods, reads the letter addressed to Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for the European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and ambassadors of Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the USA," reads the statement.

Čadež and Gërxhaliu underscore that the two Chambers have already called on the authorities in Kosovo and other institutions and organisations in charge of guaranteeing stability to take whatever action in their power to prevent these forms of violence.

They urge the public to condemn unilateral actions that slow down the process of normalisation, in which the economic and commercial cooperation play a decisive role.

"We re-affirm our dedication to the process of European integration, particularly to its economic dimension, and we wish to urge you and other European institutions to use your legal competencies, the authorities given and political leverage in order to condemn the violent behaviour and prevent such incidents in the future," reads the letter.

Čadež and Gërxhaliu agree this would be the way to contribute to overcoming the public distrust in the existence of safe conditions for doing business and to put in the effort to improve cooperation between the business communities and create conditions for a sustainable economic development of the entire region.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia and the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce remain committed to the improvement of their mutual relations, normalisation and creation of favourable conditions for economic development and doing business, reads the statement.

On 11 March, activists of the radical opposition movement Self-Determination overturned a truck carrying goods produced in Serbia in the settlement of Morine in the vicinity of Priština. They were also responsible for the first incident of truck overturning near Podujevo some ten days ago.