Norway and China held a video conference on March 11, 2021, between their chief trade negotiators, with a view to concluding a free trade agreement (FTA) in the near future. The negotiating parties conducted in-depth consultations on trade in goods and services, investment protections, rules of origin, customs procedures and trade facilitation, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, dispute settlement, and the preamble to the agreement. Both sides stated that the discussions were held on the basis of achieving a common consensus on as wide a range of economic issues as possible.
Both countries also reiterated that their negotiations for a free trade agreement were important in jointly combating the global coronavirus pandemic and restoring growth in a post-pandemic world. In achieving this outcome, they placed importance in supporting free trade and multilateralism, strengthening bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and maintaining the stability of global industrial supply chains. Additionally, Norway expressed its interests in expanding cooperation with China on boosting cross border flows of direct investment, including into key energy sectors such as hydropower and offshore oil and gas development.
The Norwegian government had earlier signed an agreement with China to enable the importation of salmon and other seafood, including fish oil and fish meat, into the country’s growing market for northern European food products, where the yearly increase in seafood consumption, alone, exceeds Norway’s entire annual production in this sector. This market access accord for Norway’s seafood products is typically renewed on a two year basis and should enable a more stable platform for Norwegian salmon and fisheries until a more comprehensive FTA is finally concluded.
The increasingly constructive bilateral economic ties, over the last four years, arise after an extended period of frozen diplomatic relations, from 2010 to 2016. This involved no political contact between the two powers following Norway’s Oslo-based Nobel Committee awarding the Peace Prize to China’s Liu Xiaobo, in 2010, after Liu was convicted of sedition in attempting to overthrow the Chinese government. The normalizing of economic and political relations, since that time, could be interpreted as sign of how any European country’s ties with China can resume on a more constructive track following several years of frozen normalised relations driven by political differences.
Norway has also been formalizing its economic and trade relations with other major Asian economies through its membership of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) which also includes Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. For instance, at the end of 2018, EFTA had signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Indonesia. The Southeast Asian state is the largest economy in the 10-member grouping of nations, known as the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), a bloc which is expected to become the fourth largest economic region in the world, by 2030, according to some European governments’ forecasts, while Indonesia is anticipated to reach that level, as a sole economy, by 2050, according to estimates by international consultancy, PwC.
Under the terms of the agreement, which is expected to be ratified in the near future, Norway will be in a preferential position to obtain access for some of its major exports to Indonesia including marine and fish produce, but also agricultural products such as cheese chocolates and coffee. Other major sectors to benefit from greater market access include industrial products such as machinery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, in addition to luxury manufactured goods such as watches. CEPA also promises to boost services trade including for telecommunications, financial services and energy.
Significantly, the agreement contains chapters on sustainable development including provisions on environment covering forest resources and managed plantation development, as well as on workers’ rights.
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