Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)
Map members
Official languages		Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Macedonian, Moldovan, and Serbian
Type		Trade agreement
Member states		Albania  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Croatia  Kosovo .  Macedonia  Moldova  Montenegro  Serbia
Establishment
-	Signed	21 December 1992
Area
-	Total	309,125 km²  119,354 sq mi
Population
-	2007 estimate	30,936,824
-	Density	100.07/km²  259.2/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2007 (IMF) estimate
-	Total	$236.6 billion
-	Per capita	7,649
Currency		Albanian Lek, Bosnia and Herzegovina konvertibilna marka, Croatian kuna, Euro, Macedonian denar, Moldovan leu, Serbian dinar (ALL, BAM, HRK, EUR, MKD, MDL, RSD)
Time zone		CET / EET (UTC+1 / +2)
-	Summer (DST)	CEST / EEST (UTC+2 / +3)

CEFTA history

CEFTA member states      EU member states 1992 – Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic and Slovakia) 2003 – Slovenia joined in 1996, Romania in 1997, Bulgaria in 1999 and Croatia in 2002. 2007 – Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia have joined the EU in 2004, followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 and thus left CEFTA. – Macedonia joined in 2006, followed by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo .), Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia.

The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is a trade agreement between Non-EU countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe.

Members

As of 1 May 2007, the parties of the CEFTA agreement are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo).

Former parties are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Their CEFTA membership ended when they joined the EU.

Parties of agreement		joined	left
Poland		1992	2004
Hungary		1992	2004
Czechoslovakia	Czech Republic	1992	2004
	Slovakia		2004
Slovenia		1996	2004
Romania		1997	2007
Bulgaria		1999	2007
Croatia		2003	—
Macedonia		2006	—
Bosnia and Herzegovina		2007	—
Moldova		2007	—
Serbia		2007	—
Montenegro		2007	—
Albania		2007	—
Kosovo		2007	—

Membership criteria

Former Poznań Declaration criteria:

• World Trade Organisation membership
• European Union Association Agreement with provisions for future full membership
• Free Trade Agreements with the current CEFTA member states

Current criteria since Zagreb meeting in 2005:

• WTO membership or commitment to respect all WTO regulations
• any European Union Association Agreement
• Free Trade Agreements with the current CEFTA member states

Current members

Flag	State	Official name	Accession	Population	Area (km²)	Capital	GDP in millions (PPP)	GDP per capita (PPP)
	Albania	Republic of Albania	02007-01-01 1 January 2007	&0000000003619778.0000003,619,778	&0000000000028748.00000028,748	Tirana	19,920	6,300
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	02007-01-01 1 January 2007	&0000000004590310.0000004,590,310	&0000000000051209.00000051,209	Sarajevo	42,998	10,700
	Croatia	Republic of Croatia	02003-01-01 1 January 2003	&0000000004491543.0000004,491,543	&0000000000056542.00000056,542	Zagreb	68,980	15,500
	Macedonia	Republic of Macedonia	02006-01-01 1 January 2006	&0000000002061315.0000002,061,315	&0000000000025333.00000025,333	Skopje	17,350	8,500
	Moldova	Republic of Moldova	02007-01-01 1 January 2007	&0000000004324450.0000004,324,450	&0000000000033843.00000033,843	Chişinău	9,821	2,900
	Montenegro	Montenegro	02007-01-01 1 January 2007	&0000000000678177.000000678,177	&0000000000014026.00000014,026	Podgorica	6,135	10,225
	Serbia	Republic of Serbia	02007-01-01 1 January 2007	&0000000010159046.00000010,159,046	&0000000000077474.00000077,474	Belgrade	77,280	10,400
	Kosovo	Republic of Kosovo	02007-01-01 1 January 2007	&0000000002126708.0000002,126,708	&0000000000010887.00000010,887	Prishtina	7,345	10,800

History

Original agreement

Original CEFTA agreement was signed by Visegrád Group countries, that is by Poland, Hungary and Czech and Slovak republics (at the time parts of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic) on 21 December 1992 in Kraków, Poland. It entered into force since July 1994. Through CEFTA, participating countries hoped to mobilize efforts to integrate Western European institutions and through this, to join European political, economic, security and legal systems, thereby consolidating democracy and free-market economics.

The agreement was amended by the agreements signed on 11 September 1995 in Brno and on 4 July 2003 in Bled.

Slovenia joined CEFTA in 1996, Romania in 1997, Bulgaria in 1999, Croatia in 2003 and Macedonia in 2006.

CEFTA 2006 agreement

All of the parties of the original agreement had now joined the EU and thus left CEFTA. Therefore it was decided to extend CEFTA to cover the rest of the Balkan states, which already had completed a matrix of bilateral free trade agreements in the framework of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. On April 6, 2006, at the South East Europe Prime Ministers Summit in Bucharest, a joint declaration on expansion of CEFTA to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNMIK on behalf of Kosovo, Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro was adopted. ^[1] Accession of Ukraine has also been discussed.^[2] The new enlarged agreement was initialled on November 9, 2006 in Brussels and has been signed on December 19, 2006 at the South East European Prime Ministers Summit in Bucharest.^[3] The agreement went into effect on July 26, 2007 for Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova and Montenegro, and on August 22 for Croatia. Bosnia and Herzegovina ratified it on September 6,^[4] while Serbia completed the final legal procedures on September 24, 2007.^[5] The agreement aims at establishing a free trade zone in the region by 31 December 2010.

Relations with the EU

All former participating countries had previously signed association agreements with the EU, so in fact CEFTA has served as a preparation for full European Union membership. Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia joined the EU on May 1, 2004, with Bulgaria and Romania following suit on January 1, 2007. Croatia does not yet have a date specified, but is in the process of accession negotiations, and is expected to join EU in 2010 or 2011. Macedonia is also an official candidate country of the EU.

At the EU's recommendation, the future members prepared for membership by establishing free trade areas. A large proportion of CEFTA foreign trade is with EU countries.

See also

• Economy of Europe
• Enlargement of the European Union
• European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
• Free trade areas in Europe
• Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe (including a matrix of bilateral FTAs)
• Visegrád Group

External links

• Original CEFTA Treaty
• Preamble of the CEFTA Agreement Amendment of and Accession to the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA 2006 Agreement)

v • d • e Members of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) Albania · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Croatia · Kosovo/UNMIK · Macedonia · Moldova · Montenegro · Serbia