Representatives of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – and the Philippines signed a free trade agreement.
The agreement was signed April 28, 2016 in the Swiss capital city of Bern.
This agreement is based on a joint declaration on cooperation signed between EFTA and the Philippines in June 2014 in Iceland. And the negotiations on a free trade agreement began in March 2015.
The agreement is comprehensive, covering: trade in goods, including industrial and agricultural, fish and other marine products; rules of origin; trade facilitation; sanitary and phytosanitary measures; technical barriers to trade; trade in services; investments; competition; protection of intellectual property rights; government procurement and sustainable development.
According to the European Association of Free Trade, foreign trade in goods between the EFTA and the Philippines and increased by an average rate of 11 percent between 2005 and 2015.
In 2015, total merchandise trade between EFTA and the Philippines was estimated at $ 863 million, with exports to the EFTA Philippines in the amount of $ 407 million, and exports from the Philippines – $ 456 million.
EFTA currently has 27 free trade agreements with 37 partners who are not members of the EU.