Central European Free Trade Agreement

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Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)
Flag of the Central European Free Trade Agreement
Location of the Central European Free Trade Agreement
Map of Europe indicating current CEFTA members
Official languages Albanian language, Bosnian language, Croatian language, Macedonian language, Moldovan language, Serbian language
Type Trade agreement
Member states Flag of Albania Albania
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina
Flag of Croatia Croatia
Flag of the Republic of Macedonia Macedonia
Flag of Moldova Moldova
Flag of Montenegro Montenegro
Flag of Serbia Serbia
Flag of the United Nations UNMIK (Kosovo)
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, UNMIK (on behalf of 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.

Contents

[edit] Members

As of 1 May 2007, the parties of the CEFTA agreement are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and UNMIK (on behalf of 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
Flag of Poland Poland 1992 2004
Flag of Hungary Hungary 1992 2004
Flag of Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic 1992 2004
Flag of Slovakia Slovakia 2004
Flag of Slovenia Slovenia 1996 2004
Flag of Romania Romania 1997 2007
Flag of Bulgaria Bulgaria 1999 2007
Flag of Croatia Croatia 2003 —
Flag of the Republic of Macedonia Macedonia 2006 —
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina 2007 —
Flag of Moldova Moldova 2007 —
Flag of Serbia Serbia 2007 —
Flag of Montenegro Montenegro 2007 —
Flag of Albania Albania 2007 —
Flag of the United Nations UNMIK (Kosovo) 2007 —

[edit] Membership criteria

Former Poznań Declaration criteria:

Current criteria since Zagreb meeting in 2005:

[edit] Current members

Flag State Official name Accession Population Area (km²) Capital GDP in millions (PPP) GDP per capita (PPP)
Flag of Albania Albania Republic of Albania 02007-01-01 1 January 2007 &0000000003600523.0000003,600,523 &0000000000028748.00000028,748 Tirana 21,160 6,649
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina 02007-01-01 1 January 2007 &0000000003981239.0000003,981,239 &0000000000051197.00000051,197 Sarajevo 42,998 10,715
Flag of Croatia Croatia Republic of Croatia 02003-01-01 1 January 2003 &0000000004453500.0000004,453,500 &0000000000056542.00000056,542 Zagreb 74,419 16,758
Flag of the Republic of Macedonia Macedonia Republic of Macedonia 02006-01-01 1 January 2006 &0000000002038514.0000002,038,514 &0000000000025713.00000025,713 Skopje 16,940 7,645
Flag of Moldova Moldova Republic of Moldova 02007-01-01 1 January 2007 &0000000004128047.0000004,128,047 &0000000000033844.00000033,844 Chişinău 9,367 2,962
Flag of Montenegro Montenegro Montenegro 02007-01-01 1 January 2007 &0000000000684736.000000684,736 &0000000000013812.00000013,812 Podgorica 3,443 3,800
Flag of Serbia Serbia Republic of Serbia 02007-01-01 1 January 2007 &0000000010150265.00000010,150,265 &0000000000088361.00000088,361 Belgrade 64,000 7,265
Flag of the United Nations UNMIK (Kosovo) United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo 02007-01-01 1 January 2007 &0000000001900000.0000001,900,000 &0000000000010908.00000010,908 Pristina 4,000 1,800

[edit] History

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] See also

Most active regional blocs
(as of 2004, except as noted)
Regional bloc1 Area Population GDP ($US) Member
states1
km² sq mi in millions (PPP) in millions (nominal) per capita (PPP) per capita (nominal)
AU 29,797,500 11,504,879 897,548,804 1,515,000 1,131,850 1,896 1,261 53
ASEAN (2007 est.) 4,497,493 1,736,000 566,500,000 3,115,480 1,173,000 5,541 2,041 10
CACM 422,614 163,172 37,816,598 159,536 84,792 4,219 2,242 5
CARICOM 462,344 178,512 14,565,083 64,219 24,020 4,409 1,649 (14+1)3
CCASG / GCC 2,285,844 882,569 35,869,438 536,223 717,800 14,949 20,011 6
CEFTA 298,148 115,116 28,929,682 222,041 122,001 7,675 4,217 (7+1)3
EU (2007 est.) 4,324,782 1,669,808 497,000,000 14,953,000 16,574,000 28,213 33,482 27
EurAsEC 20,789,100 8,026,720 208,067,618 1,689,137 1,125,528 8,118 5,409 6
EFTA (2007 est.) 529,600 204,480 12,660,623 567,500 743,300 44,828 60,000 4
GAFTA 9,421,946 3,637,834 280,727,416 1,341,298 N/A 4,778 N/A (16+1)3
GUAM 810,506 312,938 63,764,600 456,173 106,469 7,154 1,670 4
NAFTA (2007 est.) 21,783,850 8,410,792 445,000,000 15,857,000 15,723,000 35,491 35,564 3
PARTA 528,151 203,920 7,810,905 23,074 N/A 2,954 N/A (12+2)3
SAARC 5,136,740 1,983,306 1,467,255,669 4,074,031 N/A 2,777 N/A 8
Unasur / Unasul 17,339,153 6,694,684 370,158,470 2,868,430 N/A 7,749 N/A 12
UN and countries
for reference2		 Area Population GDP ($US) Units4
km² sq mi in millions (PPP) in millions (nominal) per capita (PPP) per capita (nominal)
UN 133,178,011 51,420,318 6,411,682,270 55,167,630 48,245,198 8,604 7,524 192
Brazil (2007 est.) 8,514,877 3,287,612 183,888,841 1,804,000 1,067,706 10,073 6,842 27
Canada (2007 est.) 9,984,670 3,855,103 33,000,000 1,274,000 1,406,000 38,200 42,738 13
India (2007 est.) 3,287,590 1,269,346 1,120,000,000 4,726,000 1,089,000 4,182 1,004 35
Japan (2007 est.) 377,873 145,898 127,433,494 4,346,000 4,346,000 33,800 38,341 47
PR China5 (2007 est.) 9,596,960 3,705,407 1,321,851,888 7,043,000 3,420,000 5,300 2,800 33
Russia (2007 est.) 17,075,200 6,592,772 142,500,000 2,076,000 1,286,000 14,600 9,056 83
USA (2007 est.) 9,826,630 3,794,083 302,000,000 13,543,000 13,794,700 43,500 45,594 50
Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database, IMF nominal figures for 2006.[citation needed]
Legend
     smallest value among the blocs compared     largest value among the blocs compared

Footnotes
1 Including data only for full and most active members.
2 Including the largest five countries by area, population (not #4), GDP (PPP) (not #5), and GDP (nominal) (not #3 or #5).
3 Including non-sovereign autonomous areas of other states.
4 Members or administrative divisions.
5 Data for the People's Republic of China does not include Hong Kong, Macau, or the independent Republic of China (Taiwan) (over which PRC claims sovereignty).

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[edit] External links


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Members of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)