The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and four European states, which are members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in Norway yesterday. On behalf of the GCC, Abdul Rahman Al-Atiyyah, GCC secretary general, signed the FTA, while the ministers of trade and economy from Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein signed the accord on behalf of EFTA, according to a report published today by Arab News. The EFTA is composed of the four European countries that have not join the EU. It is an intergovernmental organization set up for the promotion of free trade and economic integration for the benefit of its member states. The Association is responsible for the management of the EFTA convention, which forms the legal basis of the organization and governs free trade relations between the EFTA states. “The free trade agreement was signed today in the Norwegian city of Hamar, about 100 miles north of Oslo, where EFTA was holding its summer ministerial meeting,” said Ambassador Christian Etter, delegate of the Swiss Government for Trade Agreements, who is currently visiting Saudi Arabia with a Swiss delegation. Etter told Arab News, “The GCC and EFTA have set out a new vision of commercial relationship by signing this accord.” --MORE
