Together with the regional Associations for e-commerce of North Macedonia, Serbia, and Albania, we have signed a Memorandum establishing the Balkan Alliance for e-Commerce – BECA, which will advocate for the facilitation and promotion of regional e-commerce!
The establishment of this Association was supported by the Regional Cooperation Program for Southeast Europe – Foreign Trade, with the support of the EU and the Government of Germany, and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The agreement was signed in Skopje, at GiZ offices.
On behalf of our Association the signatory of Memorandum was Orhan Gazibegović, President of the Association’s Board. Upon signing the memorandum, he stated: “BECA will play a crucial role in advocating for the facilitation and promotion of regional e-commerce. This alliance enables us to collectively address the challenges posed by e-commerce in the Balkans. Given the market fragmentation and specificities of each country, it is important to have a regional body that will contribute to unlocking the full potential of e-commerce in our region. Through this platform, we can collaborate to overcome challenges such as expensive international delivery costs, customs fees, administrative hurdles, and inconsistent rules and regulations. This initiative provides us with an opportunity to act unitedly to achieve progress that is challenging to attain individually. We look forward to even closer collaboration with our regional partners.”
“The establishment of the Balkan Alliance for e-Commerce responds to the urgent need for a unified representation of the digital commerce sector in the Balkans. Through its memberships, the alliance represents the needs of approximately 450 companies and aims to harness the trading potential within the CEFTA region and the EU. It will also promote business networking, facilitate knowledge sharing, and advocate for a business-friendly ecosystem at the national and regional levels,” said Florian Brütting, Head of the e-Commerce Sector at the Regional Cooperation Program for Southeast Europe – Foreign Trade.
BECA consists of the Assembly, the Board of Directors, the President of the Board of Directors and the Assembly, the main coordinator, and national coordinators for each country. Nina Angelovska Stankov, President of the eCommerce Association of North Macedonia, has been elected as the first President of the Balkan Alliance for e-Commerce. Together with the team of the eCommerce Association of North Macedonia, she will lead the work in the first year as the inaugural president.
Founding associations have already established excellent cooperation, and through BECA, we expect to achieve progress and growth in regional e-commerce by joining forces. One of the most promising initiatives for regional e-commerce is the platform ecommerce4all.eu (a resource and information center for conducting e-commerce business in CEFTA), which was launched as part of the GIZ project and implemented by the Association of e-Commerce of Macedonia in collaboration with all e-commerce associations from CEFTA. Within this project, a module for the first Regional Trustmark Badge in e-commerce has been developed and will continue to evolve within the framework of the Balkan Alliance for e-Commerce.
Up until now, there hasn’t been a regional body in the Balkans specifically focused on international e-commerce and its development, and in the future, BECA will be open to membership from other Balkan countries and regions.