EFTA and Thailand made significant progress in tenth round of free trade negotiations

From 19 to 23 August 2024, the EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and Thailand convened in Geneva for the tenth round of negotiations towards an ambitious and broad-based free trade agreement (FTA). 

Ambassador Markus Schlagenhof, Delegate of the Federal Council for Trade Agreements at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, acted as the EFTA spokesperson, while Director-General Chotima Iemsawasdikul from the Department of Trade Negotiations in the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand headed the Thai delegation.

Throughout the week, experts discussed a range of areas with the aim of resolving outstanding matters including trade in goods, rules of origin, trade in services, investment, government procurement, cooperation and capacity building, trade remedies, legal and horizontal issues, small and medium-sized enterprises and intellectual property rights. Heads of Delegation convened on several occasions to take stock of progress, narrow down differences and determine the way forward. Alltogether, significant and substantive progress was made towards possibly concluding negotiations soon.

Negotiations towards an FTA between the EFTA States and Thailand were launched by EFTA Ministers and Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister during EFTA’s Ministerial meeting in June 2022 in Borgarnes, Iceland. Since then, ten rounds of negotiations have taken place in Bangkok, Geneva and Oslo.

FULL REPORT

Economic relations between the EFTA States and Thailand

In 2023, bilateral EFTA–Thailand merchandise trade exceeded EUR 3.2 billion. Clocks and watches, fish and crustaceans, pharmaceutical products, electrical machinery, and mechanical appliances were the primary exports from EFTA to Thailand, while electrical machinery, mechanical appliances, clocks and watch parts, vehicles, and iron structures were the primary imports from Thailand.

Read more about merchandise trade between EFTA and Thailand here.