Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy Ljupco Nikolovski and Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic signed Wednesday an agreement for settlement of the flour issue.
According to the agreement, the control labels for flour packages of 1kg, 2kg and 5kg will be applied in Serbia, while labels for those of 25kg and 50kg in Macedonia.
"This is the beginning of a long-standing settlement of all problems between the countries' governments in the fields of agriculture and trade," said Nikolovski after the meeting held in Skopje.
According to him, Macedonia and Serbia will establish a committee for further cooperation and overcoming of all open issues.
Serbian minister Ljajic expects the problem to be solved in a systematic way.
"We have demonstrated political commitment for removal of all customs barriers," said Ljajic and added that both countries aim to increase the current annual trade exchange of EUR 760 million to EUR 1 billion.
The Macedonian rulebook for flour import will be amended as of Wednesday.
The problem emerged after the Macedonian Government adopted the rulebook, which stipulates the applying of control labels after import and quality checks, not prior to the export to Macedonia.
Serbia annually exports 30,000-40,000 tonnes of flour to Macedonia.
