EFTA holds second 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 had been launched by ministers on 23 November 2010, followed by a first full round of negotiations in January 2011 in Geneva.

During the second round, groups of experts discussed, in particular:

• Trade in industrial and agricultural products;
• Sanitary and phytosanitary issues;
• Technical barriers to trade;
• Trade remedies;
• Customs and origin matters;
• Trade facilitation;
• Intellectual property rights; and
• Government procurement.

Other topics, such as services and investment, and trade and sustainable development, were addressed at the level of heads of delegations.

The parties held constructive talks allowing for good headway to be made, the exchange of information and the establishment of joint texts. They agreed to meet again in August 2011 in Switzerland.

The EFTA team was led by Mr Jan Farberg, Director-General in the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry. Mr Maxim Medvedkov, Director of the Department for Trade Negotiations in the Ministry of Economic Development, headed the Russian delegation and acted as spokesperson for Customs Union matters. Mr Timur Suleimenov, Vice-Minister of Economic Development and Trade, headed the Kazakh delegation, and Mr Aleksandr Guryanov, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, headed the Belarusian delegation.

In 2010, the three countries now forming the Russia/Belarus/Kazakhstan Customs Union were EFTA’s sixth most important export destination and fourth largest import source outside the European Union, with total merchandise trade amounting to USD 8.1 billion. Trade in services as well as foreign direct investments are also significant between both sides.