{"id":7376,"date":"2026-11-04T09:07:40","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T09:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euprojects.al\/?post_type=euprojects&#038;p=7376"},"modified":"2026-11-04T09:22:45","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T09:22:45","slug":"eu4trade-accelerating-regional-economic-integration-and-eu-single-market-access-for-the-western-balkans","status":"publish","type":"euprojects","link":"https:\/\/euprojects.al\/sq\/euprojects\/eu4trade-accelerating-regional-economic-integration-and-eu-single-market-access-for-the-western-balkans\/","title":{"rendered":"EU4Trade \u2013 Accelerating Regional Economic Integration and EU Single Market Access for the Western Balkans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Multi-Donor Action \u201cEU4Trade: Accelerating Regional Economic Integration and EU Single Market Access for the Western Balkans\u201d is jointly co-financed by the European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ as part of the BMZ project \u201cRegioTrade \u2013 Enhancing Regional Economic Integration in the Western Balkans through Trade\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Strengthening regional economic integration harbours significant economic potential for the Western Balkan region and is a critical prerequisite for the region&#8217;s accession to the European Union. In particular, the EU\u2019s Growth Plan for the Western Balkans\u2019 (GP) presents promising opportunities, allowing these countries to benefit from the advantages of the EU Single Market even before full membership. However, to capitalize on this, the countries must implement economic reforms that align with EU regulations and standards. A key focus of the Growth Plan is trade integration, particularly the expansion of the free movement of goods and ser-vices, including e-commerce and the improvement of the region\u2019s quality infrastructure sys-tems (particularly through the establishment of the Single Market Academy). These issues are also central to the \u2018Common Regional Market Action Plan 2025-2028\u2019 (CRM AP). The Common Regional Market is an initiative by the Western Balkan countries designed to reduce economic fragmentation and enhance regional integration. Despite these efforts, the implementation of regional trade agreements remains slow in some areas and lacks full harmonization, which can create additional barriers to intra-regional trade and trade with the EU.<\/p>\n<p>This Action will therefore support the Western Balkan 6 (WB6) in the harmonisation and im-plementation of trade-related reforms consistent with the priorities of the GP and CM AP and in line with the EU Acquis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Multi-Donor Action \u201cEU4Trade: Accelerating Regional Economic Integration and EU Single Market Access for the Western Balkans\u201d is jointly co-financed by the European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ as part of the BMZ project \u201cRegioTrade \u2013 Enhancing Regional Economic Integration in the Western Balkans through [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-7376","euprojects","type-euprojects","status-publish","hentry","area_types-national","area_types-regional","sectors-e-commerce","sectors-quality-infrastructure","sectors-regional-economic-integration","sectors-trade-facilitation","sectors-trade-in-goods-and-services","municipality-all-61-municipalities","beneficiary-business-associations-and-other-private-sector-stakeholders","beneficiary-customs-and-border-agencies","beneficiary-ministries-responsible-for-trade-and-economy","beneficiary-other-relevant-public-institutions","beneficiary-quality-infrastructure-institutions"],"acf":[],"ptb_metabox":{"ptb_euprojects_project_status":"Ongoing","ptb_euprojects_project_value":"12000000","ptb_euprojects_":{"euprojects__1":"0"},"ptb_euprojects_project_timeline":{"euprojects_project_timeline_1":"0"},"ptb_euprojects_eu_contribution_value_":"8000000","ptb_euprojects_timeline":"02.2025-01.2029","ptb_euprojects_implementation_partners":"GIZ","ptb_euprojects_overall_objective":"The <strong>Overall Objective <\/strong>of the Action is to strengthen regional economic integration in the West-ern Balkans in line with the requirements of the EU Single Market.","ptb_euprojects_expected_resultss":"<ul>\r\n \t<li>Stronger regional cooperation to facilitate trade in goods and services within the Western Balkans and with the EU<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Simpler and more predictable cross-border trade, with shorter border-crossing times and fewer physical controls<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Improved cooperation among customs, market surveillance and other relevant authorities<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Stronger quality infrastructure institutions and closer alignment with EU standards and requirements<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Improved capacity to apply EU-related rules and procedures for digital trade, e-commerce and parcel delivery. Stronger institutional capacities to support trade in services, including tourism. More businesses able to benefit from cross-border trade opportunities, including women entrepreneurs in online trade<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","ptb_euprojects_activities_":"<strong>Output 1: Free trade in goods<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Provide expert advice on risk management for customs and border authorities to streamline cross-border trade processes.\r\n\u2022 Support risk-based procedures to reduce official controls for fruit and vegetable trade.\r\n\u2022 Support customs authorities in the mutual recognition of Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programmes.\r\n\u2022 Strengthen the regional AEO association to promote cooperation and knowledge-sharing among AEO operators.\r\n\u2022 Support pre-arrival processing for postal and express shipments through Electronic Advanced Data sharing.\r\n\u2022 Build the capacity of customs authorities and partners on the EU VAT e-commerce package, ICS2 and risk management for large-scale e-commerce parcels.\r\n\u2022 Organise exchanges on EU agreements for the mutual recognition of conformity assessments.\r\n\u2022 Support the recognition of aligned documents, including contingency plans and surveillance programmes.\r\n\u2022 Organise exchanges on monitoring plans and sample-testing results.\r\n\u2022 Promote regional exchanges on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).\r\n\u2022 Deliver capacity-building through the Single Market Academy (SMA) to strengthen quality infrastructure institutions and support alignment with EU standards.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong>Output 2: Trade in services<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Support parcel delivery within CEFTA through regulatory and non-regulatory measures aligned with the EU acquis and CEFTA decisions.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>\u00a0Provide tailored support to CEFTA parties to implement the CEFTA decision on e-commerce facilitation.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Strengthen public- and private-sector stakeholders\u2019 capacity to respond to the changing regulatory environment.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Organise exchanges on EU regulations and provide national expert advice on trade in services.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Advise the e-commerce umbrella organisation on representation of interests and organisational development.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Support implementation of the CEFTA decision on trade in services by travel agencies and tour operators.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","ptb_gallery_1":{"url":[""],"link":[""],"title":[""],"description":[""]},"ptb_file_2":{"url":[""],"title":[""]},"ptb_video_1":{"url":[""],"title":[""],"description":[""]}},"ptb_taxonomy":{"area_types":[{"term_id":90,"name":"National","slug":"national","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":90,"taxonomy":"area_types","description":"","parent":0,"count":100,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":224,"name":"Regional","slug":"regional","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":224,"taxonomy":"area_types","description":"","parent":0,"count":21,"filter":"raw"}],"municipality":[{"term_id":1366,"name":"All 61 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institutions","slug":"other-relevant-public-institutions","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1600,"taxonomy":"beneficiary","description":"","parent":877,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1598,"name":"Quality infrastructure institutions","slug":"quality-infrastructure-institutions","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1598,"taxonomy":"beneficiary","description":"","parent":1581,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}]},"ptb_featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euprojects.al\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/euprojects\/7376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euprojects.al\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/euprojects"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euprojects.al\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/euprojects"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euprojects.al\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}