On 27 June, First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko met with the ministers of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in order to declare the decision to start domestic procedures for updating a package of free trade agreements.

These are the Free Trade Agreement between the EFTA States (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) and Ukraine, the Agreement on Agriculture between the Kingdom of Norway and Ukraine, the Agreement on Agriculture between Iceland and Ukraine, and the Agreement on Agriculture between the Swiss Confederation and Ukraine.

The new version of the Agreement is expected to include new sections on small and medium-sized enterprises, trade and sustainable development, e-commerce and technical cooperation. It is also proposed to update the following sections: trade in goods, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, trade facilitation, intellectual property protection and public procurement.

For its part, Ukraine is interested in the maximum liberalization of both customs duties and preferential duties as well as non-tariff measures for all goods.

Reference source: bit.ly/3NsbWIv