RIYADH: The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and four European states, which are members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in Norway yesterday. On behalf of the GCC, Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah, GCC secretary general, signed the FTA, while the ministers of trade and economy from Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein signed the accord on behalf of EFTA.
The EFTA is composed of the four European countries that have not join the EU. It is an intergovernmental organization set up for the promotion of free trade and economic integration for the benefit of its member states. The Association is responsible for the management of the EFTA convention, which forms the legal basis of the organization and governs free trade relations between the EFTA states “The free trade agreement was signed today in the Norwegian city of Hamar, about 100 miles north of Oslo, where EFTA was holding its summer ministerial meeting,” said Ambassador Christian Etter, delegate of the Swiss Government for Trade Agreements, who is currently visiting Saudi Arabia with a Swiss delegation. Etter told Arab News, “The GCC and EFTA have set out a new vision of commercial relationship by signing this accord.”
The FTA was signed on the sidelines of the EFTA ministerial meeting. Sheikh Ghazi Bin Said Al-Bahar Al-Rawas was present on behalf of Oman, which holds the presidency of the GCC Ministerial Council. This accord has added significance as GCC states decided to go ahead and sign a free trade deal with EFTA countries which are not EU members as GCC-EU free trade talks broke down recently.
Before his departure for Norway, Al-Attiyah said, “The FTA with the four European countries will be another important milestone in our relations with EFTA.” He maintained that GCC-EU free trade talks had come to a halt but discussions were going on at a certain level. The agreement calls for more intensified trade contacts between EFTA countries and the GCC, whose economy is set to grow steadily between now and 2020 at a faster rate than the global average, according to a report.
The Gulf states will achieve an average annual growth of 4.5 percent compared with an aggregate global rate that will be lower. “Moreover, GCC oil and gas production capacity is rising, and could rise much further by 2020,” said the report. An EFTA press statement sent to Arab News said that the EFTA ministers “welcomed the addition of the FTA with the GCC to the expanding EFTA network of preferential trade relations.”
Swiss Ambassador Maurice Darier said that the new agreement would strengthen bilateral trade and investment relations with the Middle East countries, covering trade in goods as well as services and government procurement.
