India-EFTA deal to boost Norwegian exports: Trade minister Vestre

New Delhi: Over the past year, India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, comprising Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, have diligently worked towards signing a free trade agreement. This agreement aims to eliminate tariffs on nearly all Norwegian exports to India gradually, said Jan Christian Vestre, Norway’s trade and industry minister, during a media briefing on Sunday. This agreement will benefit Norwegian exporters by providing them with substantial competitive advantages over their European and global counterparts. Below are edited excerpts from Vestre’s briefing.

EFTA has been criticized by Medecins Sans Frontieres for coercing India into a clause on data exclusivity, which was there in a draft agreement. What is your reaction to the allegation?

First of all, in terms of the IPR chapter, that sector, that’s something that Switzerland is responsible for. But Norway is part of the final result. So I can also explain about the final result. We are one EFTA and one India. But there have been negotiations between India and the representatives from Switzerland, obviously because they have a huge industry. So the final agreement doesn’t change anything compared to the WTO regulations already. We all know that there have been discussions about this. I understand and respect the views of India. So there will be no changes compared to what we have today. It’s more or less the WTO standards that we will still commit to.

The deal talks about a $100 billion investment. But is this a commitment for investment?

The member states are deciding where the companies should invest. And this is about foreign direct investment. So it’s from the private sector. Obviously, on top of that comes, for instance, the Norwegian Sovereign Fund, our climate fund, has already invested $17 billion in India. That comes on top of the $100 billion we are talking about. We, of course, have a very bold, but also concrete action plan to follow up on this. It’s about creating the right framework conditions.

We will establish an office here together, India and the EFTA countries, to promote investments in trade. We will tell our companies all the benefits by really mobilizing the private sector. And this is something we’re going to measure. We will trace and track the development. And there are some mechanisms in the agreement. So after a certain time of year, we will also assess and see how far we come. So the four EFTA countries together will mobilize private investments. And the goal is $100 billion by the next one and half decades, and one million jobs on top of that.

EFTA has been criticized by Medecins Sans Frontieres for coercing India into a clause on data exclusivity, which was there in a draft agreement. What is your reaction to the allegation?

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