EFTA, Turkey Make Headway On Upgraded FTA

From June 1 to 4, 2015, delegates from the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states and Turkey met in Ankara for the third round of negotiations on the modernization and expansion of their existing free trade agreement (FTA).

During this third round, the parties made progress on discussions on trade in goods, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, trade remedies, rules of origin, trade in services, intellectual property rights, trade and sustainable development, and legal and institutional issues, EFTA said. While work was concluded in some areas, both sides will hold internal consultations on various outstanding issues with a view to taking stock after the summer break.

Under the existing agreement, Turkey and the EFTA states – Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway – grant each other duty-free access for industrial goods, and fish and marine products. It also provides concessions for certain agricultural products.

Bilateral EFTA-Turkey merchandise trade has increased steadily since 2001 and reached USD5.6bn in 2014, with EFTA exports to Turkey of USD3.2bn and Turkish exports to EFTA of USD2.4bn. EFTA's main exports to Turkey are machinery, pharmaceutical products, and mineral fuels/oil. Turkey's exports to EFTA include apparel articles and accessories and vehicles.

Source: Tax News