[NYC-L] [Kcc-News] Kosovo: Trade Booms Between Old Enemies

[Mentor Cana]

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Kosovo: Trade Booms Between Old Enemies

Albanians may have thrown off Belgrade rule but they are still part of the
Serbian economy.

By Tanja Matic and Altin Ahmeti in Pristina (BCR No 479, 04-Feb-04)

Every week, ethnic Albanians from Pristina head into the city's supermarket
and fill their shopping baskets with goods from Serbia - a republic that
most of Kosovo's majority think of as enemy Number One.

Four years after the armed uprising that resulted in Kosovo throwing off
Serbian political control, the region remains reliant on its powerful
northern neighbour for many of its most basic needs.

Stores in the international protectorate are lined with Serbian goods,
ranging from foodstuffs to shopping powder and even bricks and mortar - all
evidence of the fact that while political dialogue between Serbs and
Albanians remains stalled, trade between the two is booming.

The goods pour in from every part of Serbia. Favourites from the sweet
section include "Medeno Srce" (honey heart) and "Plazma" biscuits, from the
northern town of Subotica and from Slobodan Milosevic's home town of
Pozarevac respectively. Over in the dairy section is "Imlek" milk from
Belgrade, while the hardware shelves stock "Tesla" light bulbs from Pancevo
in Vojvodina and Merix soap powder from Krusevac.

Pristina store owner Avni says no one makes a fuss, "I sell these products
and people do not complain. Some even ask for 'Beogradsko Mleko' (Belgrade
Milk) that they used to buy for years, though we don't have that one any
more."

Avni laughs at the idea of boycotting Serbian goods out of patriotism.
Shoppers, he says, easily distinguish between much-loved products and the
state that produced them. "We don't identify Serbian products with the
Serbian state," he said with a smile, "and what's most important is that
these products are mostly the cheapest ones."

The Albanians certainly do not buy Serbian goods out of any nostalgia for
the former regime. Geography and simple economics play the largest part.
Under UN Resolution 1244, Kosovo has remained part of Yugoslavia pending a
decision on its final status. That means no customs duties are paid on goods
from Serbia and Montenegro, the successor state to Yugoslavia.

The other factor is that Kosovo simply doesn't produce much these days. With
very few home-grown products to offer, people here have to buy their goods
from somewhere.

One obvious area of cooperation is building. The armed conflict between
Albanians and Yugoslav forces left thousands of homes destroyed. As a
result, one of the main economic activities in the entity is the
construction industry.

If Kosovo Albanians see any irony in buying bricks and mortar from the
republic whose forces destroyed their homes, they are not disturbed by it.

Milos Boskovic, sales director of the Vojvodina-based Potisje brick factory,
told IWPR that since the end of conflict cooperation has blossomed with
Kosovo Albanians. "Kosovo is a very important market to us. Up to 70 per
cent of our annual production goes there," he said.

But not everyone is happy with the flourishing trade relations between these
two former enemies.

Kosovo economists point out that business is very one-sided. Thanks to the
entity's undeveloped economy and Serbian reluctance to recognise Kosovo
travel documents, the goods only travel one way - south.

Mustafa Ibrahimi, of the Kosovo Chamber of Economy, complains that even if
the region's economy was more developed, container trucks from there would
not be in a position to enter Serbia.

"Serbia has the advantage over exports to Kosovo, as Albanians are not able
to travel to Serbia on Kosovo licence plates," he said.

Statistics from the entity's ministry of trade illustrate the stark
imbalance. Serbia exported goods to Kosovo in first nine months of 2003
worth 108 million euro, just over 15 per cent of the region's total imports.
Over the same period, Kosovo sold Serbia goods worth some 3.5 million euro.

Goods heading north were worth less than one-thirtieth of the amount
travelling south.

Kosovo trade minister Ali Jakupi says the duty-free regime between Serbia
and the protectorate hinders the growth of local industries and makes
Serbian products more competitive than local ones.

"We should trade with Serbia under different conditions, because without
proper customs duty, Serbia has advantage in selling us products such as
flour, oil, sugar, which are consumed in huge amount here," he said.

"There are no psychological reasons for this trade - Serbian products are
just cheaper."

While Milos Boskovic's brick factory in Vojvodina is flourishing, Shemsedin
Rashiti's in Podujevo, north-east Kosovo, is close to bankruptcy, owing to
competition with Serbia.

"Bricks bought in Serbia costs 13 to 19 cents each but in Kosovo they cost
about 30 cents per brick," he said. "People have no interest in buying from
us here in Kosovo."

Until Kosovo starts producing goods that are cheaper and as good as Serbian
products, the Albanian money will continue to flow north to Serbia.

"People want the lowest prices and we have to meet customers' needs," said
Agron, a store keeper from the Besa supermarket in Pristina's Bregu i
Diellit district, pointing to shelves covered with products from everywhere
but Kosovo.

"I have to buy this container of Serbian salt, as that is the only one in
this shop," a customer explained defensively. "If there was any other one, I
wouldn't buy this Serbian one."

Tanja Matic is IWPR Kosovo project coordinator. Altin Ahmeti is an economics
journalist with Koha Ditore.
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