Participating in the Central Europe Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) has an extremely important role in backing the efforts for specifying the European prospect of the Western Balkan states and Moldova, said first deputy premier Igor Dodon at the reunion of the CEFTA Joint Committee held for the first time in Chisinau, Info-Prim Neo reports. The reunion was attended by minister responsible for economy from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova and Serbia. At the news conference after the reunion, Dodon stressed that participating in CEFTA was relevant for Moldova's objective of European integration. The attendees exchanged views on the development of commercial relationships among the CEFTA member countries, the agricultural and industrial policies enforced in these countries and their impact, highlighting the tariff and non-tariff hampers in the trade exchanges. Dodon has said although the trade within CEFTA is ascending, the trade exchanges with the signatory countries do not account for a significant place in Moldova's external trade. So, in 2007, the exports of Moldovan products on the CEFTA market stood at 6.4 million euros, and the imports from those countries – at 5 million euros. “However, more and more companies operating in Moldova realize that, apart from the trade preferences with the EU, apart from the free trade agreements with the CIS countries, the free trade with the CEFTA signatories is already real. All we have to do is to increase the competitiveness of Moldovan products,” Dodon pointed out. Pietro Ercole Ago, the Secretary General of the Central European Initiative, has underlined he is in Moldova for the 22nd time, he knows the country and positively appreciates the changes occurring in Moldova. The reunion consisted of a number of round tables at which CEFTA representatives exchange information on the cooperation in approximating the legislation with the EU acquis, on the cooperation of customs services. The new CEFTA agreement was signed in Bucharest in 2006.