EFTA holds fourth round of free trade negotiations with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan

The negotiations between the four EFTA States and the three members of the customs union were pursued following three rounds conducted last year and the adoption at the eighth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in December 2011 of the Russian Federation’s accession to the WTO.

The fourth round allowed for substantive expert discussions in most areas, notably trade in industrial and agricultural products as well as fish; sanitary and phytosanitary issues; customs and origin matters; trade facilitation; trade remedies; intellectual property rights; services and investment; government procurement and sustainable development.

The EFTA team was led by Mr Jan Farberg, Director General at the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry, while Mr Maxim Medvedkov, Director of the Department for Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, headed the delegations of the customs union states.

In 2010, the three countries now forming the Russia/Belarus/Kazakhstan customs union were EFTA’s fifth most important export destination and import source outside the European Union, with total merchandise trade amounting to USD 8.5 billion. Trade in services as well as foreign direct investments are also significant between both sides.