27 june 2010 18:18
Ukraine, EFTA sign free trade agreement
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryshchenko, who is currently on a working visit to Iceland at a ministerial meeting of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), has signed a free trade agreement with the EFTA.
The sides also signed three bilateral agreements on cooperation in agriculture with Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, all of them the EFTA member states.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Voloshyn said earlier that the agreement with the European Free Trade Association would help promote the production of Ukrainian exporters to the markets of the EFTA member states and increase investment in the Ukrainian economy.
The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) started official negotiations with Ukraine on the creation of a free trade area in April 2009. The EFTA, which was set up in 1960, includes four non-member states of the European Union, in particular, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The total population of these countries is about 12.7 million.
UKRINFORM