WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will add Azerbaijan and Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia earlier this year, to the list of countries whose goods are eligible for U.S. duty-free treatment under a longstanding program, the White House said on Friday.
President George W. Bush issued a proclamation adding the two countries to the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences program, which provides duty-free entry for more than 4,650 products from 131 designated countries and territories.
Bush added Serbia to the list of GSP beneficiary countries on June 30, a little more than fourth months after Kosovo declared its independence.
"In light of Kosovo's independence from Serbia, I have determined that Kosovo should be designated as a separate GSP beneficiary developing country," Bush said in a letter to leaders of Congress.
Bush decided to also add Azerbaijan in the interest of improving economic relations and promoting that country's development, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council said.
Azerbaijan is a former Soviet republic that borders Russia, Armenia, Georgia and Iran. The country has plentiful oil and natural gas supplies. Azerbaijan was cited as top 10 reformer in 2008 by the World Bank's Doing Business report.
(Reporting by Doug Palmer, Editing by Jackie Frank)
