EFTA Parliamentary Committee visits Georgia

The visit came at a timely moment, as EFTA and Georgia recently launched negotiations on an FTA, the first round of which was held from 1 to 4 September 2015. The main purpose of the visit was to strengthen the parliamentary dimension of the free trade negotiations and to exchange views with legislators and officials in the ongoing negotiations.

The delegation was headed by Ms Kathy Riklin, Member of the Swiss Parliament, who underlined that the EFTA parliamentarians strongly supported the aim of achieving a comprehensive FTA. She expressed her hope that EFTA and Georgia would agree on an ambitious agreement which would lead to stronger trade relations between the two parties.

The EFTA parliamentarians also took this opportunity to discuss other relevant issues, such as relations between Georgia and the EU, in particular through their Association Agreement.

The EFTA Parliamentary Committee is a forum for parliamentarians from the four EFTA States. The Committee follows issues related to EFTA’s third-country relations and other aspects of free trade such as sustainable development policies in FTAs. EFTA currently has 25 FTAs in place covering 36 countries.

From Left: Mr Elfried Hasler, Member of the Liechtenstein Parliament; Mr David Usupashvili, Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia; Ms Kathy Riklin, Member of the Swiss Parliament; Mr Svein Roald Hansen, Member of the Norwegian Parliament; Mr Gunnar Gundersen, Member of the Norwegian Parliament; and Mr Harry Quaderer, Member of the Liechtenstein Parliament