The European Free Trade Association (EFTA), recently agreed to negotiate a trade and investment agreement with India. A joint task force will be established in order to arrange the agreement.
In December 2006 a study group was formed in order to consider a possible agreement between EFTA and India. The group recommended that talks between the two groups proceed and said that both sides would “significantly benefit from a bilateral broad-based trade and investment agreement”.
Kamal Nath, India’s Commerce and Industry Minister, announced the formation of the joint task force which will bring together experts from India and EFTA.
Companies in India have recently expressed an interest in deepening their relationship with EFTA companies, partly because of a shared interest in technology. Recent years have seen an increasing amount of bilateral trade between India and EFTA with transactions between 2005 and 2006 amounting to $7.4 billion.
EFTA was founded in 1960 and is comprised of Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Iceland. Member countries attempt to encourage growth and prosperity in their respective countries.