The delegation of the Republic of Kosovo welcomed the delegation of the EFTA States (Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein), with whom they continued the second round of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement.
The negotiations during three days (November 29 to December 1, 2022) were co-chaired by Zef Dedaj, Acting General Director of KIESA, at the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, and Karin Büchel, Minister at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and with responsibility in the Free Trade Agreements / EFTA, as spokesperson of the delegation of the EFTA Member States, consisting of: Sveinn K. Einarsson, Counselor and Coordinator – Permanent Mission of Iceland, Geneva; Patrick Ritter, Minister-Counselor and Deputy Permanent Representative – Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein, Geneva; Lars Erik Nordgaard, Chief Negotiator – Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, Norway and Frank Büchel, Head of Delegation and Deputy Secretary General at the EFTA Secretariat in Geneva.
At the opening of the second round of negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement, the Minister of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, Rozeta Hajdari, and the Ambassador of Switzerland to Kosovo, Thomas Kolly, addressed the negotiating delegations with welcoming words.
Minister Hajdari welcomed the EFTA delegation and underlined the fact that the EFTA States remain our main partners in political and economic terms. She mentioned the permanent support of these states in the important processes that the Republic of Kosovo has gone through and the positive trade exchanges with the EFTA Member States.
Furthermore, Minister Hajdari informed the participants about the progress achieved in amending the legislation in accordance with the WTO principles and the EU directives, on the trade policy issues, promotion and protection of investments, healthy competition, the legislation for industrial property rights, as well as the Law on Services.
On behalf of the Kosovar delegation, she expressed the position that, in addition to the trade in goods, to include also the trade in services in the negotiations.
By informing the participants regarding the determination to the good governance principles, which give businesses a clearer picture of their opportunities in the future, Minister Hajdari affirmed the many competitive advantages of the Republic of Kosovo, with stable progress and growth, compared to last year, emphasizing economic and democracy indicators, cost effectiveness, educated youth and the quality of innovation-oriented entrepreneurship.
During this round, the chapters on competition and dispute resolution, annexes on rules of origin and trade facilitation were completed.
While prior to the second round, the chapter on sanitary and phytosanitary measures was completed through a joint virtual meeting.
Returning again to the services for the mutual benefit of service providers, both parties agreed to continue their professional exchanges for services at the management level, with the idea that during the following rounds, to include in the process of negotiations the services of certain sectors.
