The chambers of commerce of Croatia and Serbia on Monday held a meeting in the eastern Croatian city of Vinkovci on boosting bilateral cooperation and ensuring shorter supply chains, the HGK said in a press release.

The optimisation of transport through border crossings, primarily concerning the veterinary and phytosanitary inspections, is a priority for business communities in both countries, said Mirjana Cagalj of the Croatian HGK chamber.

Currently there is only the Bajakovo border station providing these inspections which makes the road traffic slower with queues on both sides of the border.

According to Cagalj, the talks also focused on building a railway border station for transport by rail along the Tovarnki-Sid route.

The cooperation between the two chambers shows that the two countries find it necessary to enable smooth trade and transport between the two neighbours, according to Cagalj.

Croatia’s participants in the meeting asked Serbia to lift a ban on the import of pork from Croatia which was imposed with the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF).

Serbia has already rescinded the ban on pork from Hungary which is in a similar situation as Croatia, and pork can be imported provided that the declaration the meat is not from the ASF-affected areas is provided, said the HGK president’s advisor, Josip Zaher, said.

Croatia is Serbia’s eighth trading partner.

In the first ten months of 2023, the exchange of commodities totalled €1.9 billion. Croatia’s exports to that eastern neighbour came to €1.1 billion, down by 6% in comparison to the corresponding period of 2022, whereas the imports tumbled 27% to €894 million, show the data of the Croatian statistical office (DZS).