Foreign trade of the Western Balkan States on the path to accession to the European Union

Abstract

The main strategic goal of the Western Balkan States is the accession to the European Union and catching up with their income level and standard of living. Every economic integration begins with the liberalization of trade, so that one of the most important benefits of economic integration is free trade, and thus increased trade. Consequently, higher volume of trade will also lead to higher economic growth of newly arrived countries. That is why it is very important that the Western Balkan States, on the path to accession to the European Union, maintain a significant volume of trade exchange with the member states. The subject of this paper is the analysis of foreign trade of the Western Balkan States and the European Union. The analysis showed that the European Union share of trade with the observed countries is at a level higher than 50%.