Minister of Transport and Communications of the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia Mile Janakieski visited Kyiv at the end of January. He signed the deal to supply 84 buses for the capital of the country, the city of Skopje, with chairman of supervisory board of the Lviv Bus Plant (LAZ), which has won the international tender, announced by Macedonia. The total cost of the contract is nearly EUR 10.8 mln.

On the photo: Minister of Transport of Macedonia at the wheel of a LAZ bus.

The Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade has resolved to initiate and conduct the special investigation in regard to imports of mineral fertilizers containing the three fertilizing elements – nitrogen (over 10 per cent), phosphorus and potassium – into Ukraine irrespective of the country of origin and export. »

President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, in the second letter to Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko, expressed his concern because of the lack of progress in resolving the issues on protection of interests of Ukrainian commodity producers. Just as in the first address, the President is worried first of all about the export of Ukrainian pipes and tubes to the Russian Federation. »

On Monday, a Free Trade Agreement between Serbia and the European Union came into force. The deal was signed back in 2008, but was put off because of the demands of the Netherlands in regard to guarantees from Serbia on its cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. A gradual liberalization of trade between the parties, as per the Agreement, will take six years.

Yesterday, China filed a formal complaint with the WTO over the decision of the EU to extend the anti-dumping duty levied on Chinese leather footwear.

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Viet Nam in WTO documents), which became the 150th member country of the WTO in January 2007, made use of the Organization’s official dispute settlement procedure for the first time, by requesting the consultations over the anti-dumping duty (25 per cent), levied by the US on imports of Vietnamese shrimp. »