A new free trade accord for South East Europe that results from the updating of the CEFTA accord and the withdrawal of Romania and Bulgaria from the regional network of bilateral accords once the two countries join the EU will be signed in Bucharest on Tuesday.

The accord brings together signatories from Western Balkans and the Moldovan Republic and will replace the existing network of 32 bilateral and free-trade accords between countries in the region.

Besides provisions and general terms related to the agricultural and industrial goods trade, CEFTA-2006 includes a series of new provisions related to the trade with services, public procurement, technical obstacles to trade, protection of intellectual property rights, promotion of investments, competition and state assistance, and regulation of disputes.

CEFTA-2006 will come into force on May 1, 2007 as long as the signatories will submit the ratification instruments, accepted or approved, by March 31.

Romania has been a member of CEFTA since 1997. The group also includes Bulgaria, Croatia and Macedonia.

The total volume of Romania’s exports to Bulgaria, Croatia and Macedonia reported in the first ten months of the year grew by some 80 million euro, compared to the same period last year. Imports rose by 60 billion euro.