At the December meeting of the  “Open Balkans” initiative held in in Tirana, several agreements were signed between Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia.

Among them is the agreement on cooperation in the field of veterinary medicine, food safety and sanitary policy. According to the leaders of “Open Balkan”, it offers easier access and simpler customs procedures, reduction of physical controls and laboratory tests for the import of food, animals, animal feed, plants and other products.

In order to facilitate trade between the three countries (Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia) and to facilitate the movement of goods, according to the agreement, at the border crossing points during import, only the control of documentation is performed, ie the identification inspection of shipments. Physical control is performed at the place of unloading or at the inland customs terminal. The agreements are based on the intensification of cooperation with EU standards and the recognition of laboratory analyzes performed with accredited methods.