About EFTA News
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EFTA Council discusses relations with partners outside European Union
11.05.2011
The EFTA Council met on 11 May for the third time under the Liechtenstein chairmanship in 2011. The agenda included relations with partners outside the European Union, notably countries in Central America, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Preparations for the Ministerial meeting in June were also discussed.
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EFTA and EU support training for statisticians
15.03.2011
The EFTA Council met on 15 March for its second meeting in 2011 under the Liechtenstein Chairmanship. The EFTA-Eurostat Technical Cooperation Programme was adopted. The agenda also included EFTA’s recent activities with countries outside the European Union, notably India and Jordan.
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Parliamentarians from EFTA and Vietnam express wish for closer trade ties
28.02.2011
From 22 to 25 February 2011, a delegation from the EFTA Parliamentary Committee met with parliamentarians, officials and stakeholders in Hanoi, Vietnam, to discuss the merits of strengthened trade relations between the EFTA States and Vietnam. The delegation, which was led by Committee Chairman Mr Svein Roald Hansen, was invited by the National Assembly of Vietnam to meet with policy makers in the Assembly and in key ministries.
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EFTA Council discusses relations with countries outside the European Union
08.02.2011
The EFTA Council held its first meeting of 2011 on 7 February. The Chair presented Liechtenstein’s priorities for the first half of the year (see separate news item). The Council also reviewed EFTA’s recent activities with countries outside the European Union, including the start of free trade negotiations with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as those with Indonesia.
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Priorities of the Liechtenstein Council Chair, first half of 2011
08.02.2011
In the Council meeting on 7 February 2011, Liechtenstein presented its priorities of its EFTA Chairmanship for the first half of 2011, covering EFTA internal affairs as well as free trade relations with countries outside the European Union.
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EFTA Council reviews Ministerial meeting and discusses free trade relations
07.12.2010
On 6 December, the EFTA Council held its eleventh meeting of 2010. The Council reviewed the outcome of the recent EFTA Ministerial meeting and discussed free trade relations with countries outside the European Union.
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EFTA Ministerial meeting, Geneva, 23 November 2010
23.11.2010
On 23 November 2010, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) held a Ministerial meeting in Geneva under the chairmanship of Mr Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs of Switzerland. Ministers from the four EFTA Member States were joined by Ms Elvira Nabiullina, Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, Mr Nikolai Snopkov, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Belarus, and Ms Zhanar Aitzhanova, Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan, for the official launch of negotiations on a broad-based free trade agreement.
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EFTA Council prepares for Ministerial meeting on 23 November
18.11.2010
On 16 November the EFTA Council met under the chairmanship of Switzerland, which holds the rotating EFTA Council Chair in the second half of the year. The Council prepared for the Ministerial meeting, which will be held in Geneva on 23 November, and authorised the Secretary-General to sign a new memorandum of understanding between Eurostat and EFTA.
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Europe's Finance Ministers meet
17.11.2010
The annual meeting of EFTA and EU Finance Ministers took place on 17 November. The two items on the agenda were intelligent fiscal supervision and financial market regulation and supervision. The EFTA ECOFIN meeting was preceded by an internal meeting of the EFTA Ministers.
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EFTA Council discusses relations with countries outside the EU
20.09.2010
On 20 September the EFTA Council met under the Chairmanship of Switzerland, which holds the rotating EFTA Council Chair in the second half of the year. The Council reviewed relations with a number of countries outside the European Union, including several prospective new free trade partners. The Council approved funding for an EFTA-Serbia export promotion seminar later this year, and approved a number of financing agreements between EFTA and European standardisation organisations.