After the removal of the security measure against Serbian goods, shipments of products from Serbia have currently reached an average of 90 shipments per day which entered from the border point in Merdare. This was stated by the Director of Kosovo Customs, Agron Llugaliu, who said that from January to October of this year, our country imported over 90 million euros from this country. While, according to him, for the same period of 2023, the value of imports from Serbia was 177 million euros.

The Kosovo Government on October 7 of this year changed the security measure, from complete banning, to increased checking, to the advanced scanning. The security measure to ban Serbian goods was taken on June 14, 2023 by the Government, the day when three Kosovo police officers were kidnapped by Serbian forces within the territory of Kosovo.
In an interview for KosovaPress, Llugaliu also spoke about goods exported to Albania and other countries, while emphasizing that this trend is increasing.
Llugaliu said that in accordance with the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they are doing everything necessary to ensure full checking goods that enter through the border point with Serbia, in Mendare.

Llugaliu: Currently we have about 90 shipments entering the Republic of Kosovo through the Merdare border crossing

"In accordance with the decision of the Ministry of Interior, we are doing our best to ensure full checking of goods entering through Merdare, to process as much as our technical capabilities allow. It is known that the risk coming from Serbia is great. Currently we have about 90 shipments entering the Republic of Kosovo through this border crossing within 24 hours", said Llugaliu.
The Director of Customs, while talking about export, says that Albania remains Kosovo's main partner, which leads in terms of export of goods to this country, compared to other countries in the region.

Llugaliu: This year there has been a significant increase in exports to Albania

“Kosovo exports with a fairly stable trend in terms of the countries to which we export. This year there has been a significant increase in exports to Albania. The current value is 137 million, compared to 93 million last year, this increase is close to 47 percent. Then comes North Macedonia, where this year we have an increase, currently we have 119 million, compared to 103 million last year. Then we have Germany, here we have also had an increase from 78 million last year, to 83 million this year. Then comes Switzerland where we had an increase, 71 million this year, while 63 million was last year. Then we have the United States where we had a decline, because the main product that was exported was due to taxes, due to the policies that were put in place, in this sense there was a decline, otherwise other products as a whole have not had any decline. By the end of October, the export of the Republic of Kosovo to other countries reached 777 million, compared to 721 million last year for the same period, this means an increase of nearly 8 percent", says Llugaliu.

Director Llugaliu also spoke about customs revenues this year. According to him, there has been an increase in revenues this year as a result of the fight against the informal economy and the expansion of the rule of law in northern Mitrovica.

Llugaliu: Revenues are now 1.6 billion, or 150 million more than last year

“Revenues are now 1.6 billion euros, or 150 million more than last year. There are many factors influencing the increase in revenues, the most important of which is the effective fight against informality in general, but also the general economic growth that affects the increase in demand for products, especially for products that are imported for those products that are not produced in the Republic of Kosovo. However, an important factor is formality itself, since when we compare the increase in revenues with economic growth, and the increase in the real declared values of goods, we see that it is more than double the economic growth. Since in historical trends it has usually been as much as the economic growth has been, so has the increase in revenues and values that are declared for import. In this regard, the efficiency we have had in combating the economy in general plays a special role, as does North Mitrovica, where we had an expansion of the rule of law, especially in the last two years," cobcludes Llugaliu.

Director Llugaliu says that Kosovo Customs remains committed to continuing rigorous and continuous checks, cooperating closely with the competent authorities to protect the country's economy and security.