The Serbian government promises to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo
Belgrade intends to take measures to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the Serbian enclaves of Kosovo, which found themselves under economic blockade after the leadership of the Albanian separatists imposed a 100% duty on the supply of goods from Serbia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This was stated by the Minister of Trade of Serbia Rasim Ljajic, emphasizing that the remaining stocks of essential goods remained until the end of the week, reports “Policy».
On the air of the Prva TV channel, the minister said that in the north of Kosovo and Metohija (KoM) a food shortage has already begun; the reserves will only last until the end of the week.
“It is quite obvious that there is a plan, as there has been since the introduction of tariffs, but we cannot talk about the plan. It is our duty to provide the population with food, and we will do this, despite the fact that Pristina continues to persist in these senseless duties...” said Ljajic.
The minister assured that a humanitarian catastrophe will not be tolerated in any form.
According to Ljajic, Serbian citizens constantly ask the authorities questions: when will countermeasures be introduced? He recalled that Belgrade warned from the very beginning that the path of mutual countermeasures was “a very slippery slope.” According to him, from the very beginning the authorities had a number of these countermeasures at their disposal, but did not want to get into a situation in which the international community could equally blame both sides for escalating the situation.
“Countermeasures as a reaction to all this are still on the table, and we must weigh everything carefully before making a final decision on this issue,” Ljajic said.
This is not easy to do, he notes, since if a spiral of measures and countermeasures starts, the people living in Kosmet will suffer the most.
“We want to avoid this negative scenario. For now, the international community still has at least minimal hope of putting pressure on Pristina to cancel these duties. We are not big optimists, but we must be very patient and careful in choosing the countermeasures that we will use,” he said.
Due to Pristina's measures, the minister emphasized, “we are selling goods in Kosovo worth a million euros less every day [than before the introduction of duties], and by June 24 – the total loss of trade turnover will be 228 million – there are fears that we may lose this market".
“Other neighboring countries have already entered this market, and the big question is, if Pristina lifts these measures tomorrow, will our 2,6 thousand businessmen who sold goods in Kosovo be able to return to this market,” concluded Lajic.
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