Ukraine and EFTA states announce start of negotiations on updating a number of free trade agreements

On 27 June, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko met with the ministers of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) to declare the decision to start internal procedures for updating a package of free trade agreements.

These are the Free Trade Agreement between the EFTA States and Ukraine (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), the Agreement on Agriculture between the Kingdom of Norway and Ukraine, the Agreement on Agriculture between Iceland and Ukraine, and the Agreement on Agriculture between the Swiss Confederation and Ukraine.

“The Government of Ukraine highly appreciates the willingness of the EFTA states to revise and extend the scope of the Free Trade Agreement between the EFTA States and Ukraine, as Ukraine’s priority is to strengthen trade and economic ties with international partners. The update of the Agreement will create a new favourable climate for economic relations in the field of trade, promote the formation of a competitive market economy and the development of key industries,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

In particular, the new version of the Agreement will include new sections on small and medium-sized enterprises, trade and sustainable development, e-commerce and technical cooperation. It is also proposed to update the following sections: trade in goods, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, trade facilitation, intellectual property protection, and public procurement.

For its part, Ukraine is interested in the maximum liberalisation of both customs duties and preferential duties, as well as non-tariff measures for all goods.

“The revision of the Agreement is only one of the steps towards developing economic relations between our countries. Another step is to involve the international business community in the reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine. During the war, we identified agriculture, military-tech, energy, etc. as promising areas for investment and business development, in addition to the restoration of social infrastructure. We are also grateful to our partners for their participation in the development of war and trade risk insurance in Ukraine. Humanitarian demining, technical and non-technical survey of territories, purchase of specialised equipment and training of deminers are also among Ukraine's priorities,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.