REGIONAL COOPERATION AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

PART II:
Table 3: Regional trade exchange of the Republic of Macedonia, by selected
countries, in the period 1996-2006
Bosnian and Herzegovina Moldova Albaina
Participation
of trade in
the total trade
under the
free trade
agreement
Net export
or (net
import)
(million
USA $)
Participation
of trade in
the total trade
under the
free trade
agreement
Net export
or (net
import)
(million
USA $)
Participation
of trade in
the total trade
under the
free trade
agreement
Net export
or (net
import)
(million
USA $)$
2002 1,12% 4 0,53% 13
2003 1,08% 12 0,63% 13
2004 1,15% 21 0,72% 20
2005 1,75% 26 0,01% (0,21) 0,88% 19
2006 1,84% 38 0,01% 0,04 1,06% 29
Source: Reports on foreign trade of Macedonia 2007and 2008
Notice: The free trade agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania were signed in
2002 and with Moldova in 2005.
The results of the analysis of the regional trade exchange between Macedonia and countries
from the closer and the broader region, during the period 1996-2006, are ambiguous
regarding the realization of the expected effects from the bilateral free trade agreements.
Despite all signed bilateral agreements, the scope of regional trade exchange in the period
1996-2001 was low and its average participation in the total foreign trade was 26 %. One
of the reasons for relatively small scope of trade exchange was the low level of the used
preferential agreements. The low level of used preferential quotas associated with the
delay in their granting to the firms due to the institutional lack of capacity to manage these
activities. (Temenugova, 2003).
The Macedonian exporters have difficulties in retrieving the lost markets in the region, they
poorly used the signed agreements on free trade, and they were facing problems with the
severe competition of the regional markets that were visibly opening towards an increasing
number of other countries. The results of the regional cooperation can be summarized as
follows. The first part consists of countries with which the Republic of Macedonia has
registered a surplus and a solid level of covering the import with the export on the one side,
but a low average level of employed quotas in conformity with the signed agreements in
the export, as well as in the import, on the other. The second part consists of countries with
which the exchange of the Republic of Macedonia registers deficit and a significantly low
level of covering the import with the export, as well as a higher level of employed quotas
in conformity with the agreement, particularly as regards the import.
For instance, until 2001, Serbia was the biggest Macedonian trading partner in the region,
and Macedonia marked positive results in the trade balance from the exchange. Also the
exchanges of goods with Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina resulted with surplus from
the trade. On the other side is trade exchange with Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova, where
the results of the goods exchange were not pleasant. For instance, the import of goods from
Bulgaria, during the whole period was exceeding the export of Macedonian goods at the
Bulgarian market.
150