Kosovo-bound customs goods are now being processed in the Port of Durres in Albania, as of 1 October, following an agreement signed between the two countries earlier this year.
Albanian Minister of Finance Delina Ibrahimaj and her Kosovo counterpart Hekuran Murati accompanied by their respective customs directors, visited the customs office of Kosovo at the port this week.
“There are about 1,040 Kosovo companies that use the port of Durres and these capacities every year to clear their goods, and from today they will not only have the facilities that the two governments have agreed on with each other,” Ibrahimaj said, noting a reduction and removal of fees and a speeding up of the administrative process.
Murati said that opening the office is an extraordinary achievement for the economy of Kosovo.
“Considering the time that is saved and the cost that reaches somewhere around €2 million for businesses that trade, we consider this to be an extraordinary achievement,” he added.
Murati said that this gives Kosovo access to the sea and facilitates access to global markets for export, along with a terminal in Mitrovica at the border with Serbia and Podujeve.
Ibrahimaj said that customs clearance of goods destined for Kosovo at the port of Durres is just the next step in our commercial relations, emphasising the Albanian Government’s commitment to deepening interstate cooperation.
