EFTA secures free trade with Kosovo

Davos - Together with the other EFTA states, Swiss Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin has signed a free trade agreement with Kosovo on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Switzerland expects that this will increase the bilateral trade volume from its current level of 140 million Swiss francs.

(CONNECT) Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin and representatives of the other states within the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, have signed a free trade agreement with Kosovo. The ratification on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos included Kosovo’s Minister of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, Rozeta Hajdari, and the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti.

According to a press release from the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), this latest free trade agreement largely resembles the contracts that EFTA has concluded with third parties recently. The information provided states that it has a comprehensive sectoral scope and includes provisions on trade in goods, technical barriers to trade, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures. It also comprises trade facilitation, trade in services, the protection of intellectual property, competition, trade and sustainable development, as well as legal and horizontal provisions.

The EAER believes that this will strengthen the competitiveness of the Swiss economy. The ministry attests that the bilateral trade volume with Kosovo of around 140 million Swiss francs in 2023 has “further development potential.” ce/mm