The Kosovo Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized a discussion between business representatives and Kosovo Customs, with the aim of addressing the challenges faced by businesses and strengthening inter-institutional cooperation, KosovaPress reports.

The Director General of Kosovo Customs, Agron Llugaliu, listened to the concerns and challenges raised by businesses during the meeting, saying they would be addressed appropriately, in accordance with the legislation in force and within the shortest possible timeframe.

Regarding the facilitation of trade with Albania, he said work is underway to establish a joint customs office with Albania, which, according to him, would facilitate and speed up the processing of exports between the two countries.

He emphasized that this would enable faster solutions to problems related to increasing trade exchanges between Kosovo and Albania.

“The idea is for us to establish a joint system and process all of our exports and Albania’s exports through a single office. This will allow us to resolve any problems that may arise much faster, and we believe it will have a major impact on our exports to Albania, as well as from Albania to Kosovo. These are some of the things we have done and aim to make concrete. We also have other ideas, but we need to be realistic and, alongside our plans, secure the necessary funding and support for their implementation,” Llugaliu said.

Meanwhile, the President of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Skënder Krasniqi, opened the discussion by referring to cooperation with Albania, the measures taken to facilitate trade between the two countries, as well as the major difficulties businesses face with exports to other countries.

Krasniqi also said that businesses expect institutions to be established as soon as possible so that issues which, according to him, are hindering domestic producers can be addressed.

He highlighted that one of the Chamber’s main demands, repeated for the past ten years, is the issue of VAT, which he said remains a challenge for businesses.

“We hope that we will have the institutions, the Assembly and the Government, as soon as possible, so that we can address all these issues. As a Chamber of Commerce, for the past 10 years we have continuously requested that VAT be paid upon collection rather than upon invoicing. This is the obstacle being created for us, especially when we talk about producers. There are many issues that need to be addressed and where urgent intervention is needed in order to make changes,” Krasniqi said.

During the discussion, issues related to customs procedures, trade facilitation, and the challenges businesses face in their daily operations were also addressed.

Businesses also expressed concerns regarding certain imported raw materials used for production that are subject to high excise taxes. On this matter, Director Llugaliu promised that these challenges would be addressed.