Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Rasim Ljajic said the Czech Republic President statement that Prague might reconsider the decision on recognition of Kosovo independence, as well as voices from Brussels and Washington about the need for compromise, showed that Pristina’s status had not been solved yet,  BETA news agency reports on Thursday.

Ljajic also told RTS that one shouldn’t be optimistic that Milos Zeman’s statement would influence other European Union member states, but it showed that in Prague as well as in the EU, there was no consent about the issue.

Seven months after the introduction of a 100 per cent tax on goods from central Serbia, due to the intensified control of the Kosovo police, food supplies are at the end.

Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic told Serbian state broadcaster that Serbia will internationally insist on the tax abolishment, adding that that situation with lack of supplies is an additional argument.

Serbia’s Trade Minister Rasim Ljajic said on Tuesday the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) of 2006 became debatable after Kosovo introduced the 100 percent import duties on goods from Serbia and requires a recovery to maintain, the Beta news agency reported.

Ljajic added Serbia was losing a million Euros per day due to Pristina's taxes introduced last November.

The trade ministers of Serbia and the EurAsian Union, Rasim Ljajic and Veronika Nikishina agreed on the final draft of a free trade agreement at Tuesday’s meeting in Moscow, BETA news agency reported.

Ljajic told BETA that they agreed on a “modern agreement on free trade in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization and principles of contemporary trade practice”.

Serbia already has bilateral agreements with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and the new agreement will cover those countries as well as Armenia and Kirgizstan, Ljajic said.

Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic says to Radio Television of Serbia that throughout Kosovo there are Serbian goods, which arrive there through alternative roads, reported Belgrade based daily Danas.

Ljajic recalled that Serbian officials promptly warned of the development of the black market immediately after the introduction of a tax.

Belgrade does not expect the problem of Kosovo’s increase of tariffs on goods from Serbia to be solved through the Central European Free Trade Agreement, CEFTA, and there is no hope for any compensation for the economic damage the policy has caused, said Serbia’s Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, Rasim Ljajic.

Serbian Minister of Trade and Telecommunications, Rasim Ljajic said it is not possible to predict further Pristina’s moves and whether it would revoke its decision on additional taxes for goods from central Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tanjug news agency reported.

Ljajic noted there is a clear consensus among the international circles that taxes are unacceptable, and they have to be revoked.

Serbian Trade and Telecommunications Minister Rasim Ljajic said on Thursday that following Pristina’s 100 percent customs duties on goods from Serbia introduced on November 21, Belgrade had lost 34.6 million Euros and that the move boosted smuggling, FoNet news agency reports.

Ljajic told public broadcaster RTS the figure showed only the direct damage to Serbia’s export, adding the measure had multiple effects indirectly. He said the goods that were going to Kosovo included re-exported products and foreign brands. Ljajic added that “the smuggling is also blooming".

The tariffs imposed by Pristina have cost the Serbian economy 30 million EUR in lost revenue, Trade Minister Rasim Ljajic said on Monday.

Ljajic told Prva TV that Serbian export to Kosovo was 30 million EUR lower than in the previous year, adding that no goods were sent to Kosovo from Serbia between November 21 when Pristina raised the tariffs on goods from Serbia to 100 percent and December 11 when the Ministry did its latest review.

He added, this does not include international brands which are exempt from the measures imposed by the Kosovo government.

Serbia’s Trade Minister said on Wednesday the European Union will have a last chance to explicitly call on Pristina to withdraw its decision on tariffs on December 17, during a meeting of the Standing Committee on Kosovo’s accession, the Beta news agency reported.

Rasim Ljajic told the Belgrade-based Pink television that “there were enough of appeals. Only the EU has mechanisms not just to pressure Pristina but to threaten it with the suspension of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) and other documents.”