President to travel to Oslo for trade talks and meeting with Norwegian prime minister
Bern, 18.10.2016 - On Friday, 21 October, President Johann N. Schneider-Ammann will attend an informal meeting of trade ministers in Oslo on the current state of WTO negotiations. Ongoing negotiations on a plurilateral Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) and a plurilateral Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) will be covered in separate talks. A working meeting with the Norwegian prime minister, Erna Solberg, is also on the agenda.
The last two ministerial conferences in 2013 and 2015 allowed the World Trade Organization WTO to successfully conclude negotiations in certain sectors. In Oslo ministers from 24 WTO member states will discuss which topics should be given priority so as to strengthen the world trade system and adapt it to meet global economic challenges. President Schneider-Ammann, who heads the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), will advocate the inclusion of new trade topics in the negotiations.
On the fringes of the informal WTO ministerial conference he will meet with the trade ministers of countries currently involved in negotiations on a plurilateral Trade in Services Agreement TiSA, which aims to achieve greater legal certainty and transparency. The ministers will go into the talks with a view to concluding the negotiations as soon as possible.
Further talks are intended to provide the necessary impetus this year to conclude negotiations, already at an advanced stage, on a plurilateral Environmental Goods Agreement EGA. The aim of the agreement is to liberalise trade in ‘green' goods that are beneficial for environmental protection.
Meeting with Prime Minister Erna Solberg
Topics for discussion at the working meeting between President Schneider-Ammann and Prime Minister Solberg on Saturday, 22 October, are set to include cooperation between Switzerland and Norway in the field of research and within the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), as well as topical European policy issues.
Norway is an important partner for Switzerland in terms of science and research, particularly in the framework of the two countries' involvement in the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) based in Grenoble. In future, research institutions from Norway and Switzerland - in particular the Swiss Polar Institute (SPI) set up by the EPFL in the spring - could also work together more closely on polar and climate research.
The two countries share close ties on trade policy matters and through membership of EFTA, and enjoy excellent bilateral relations. Norway and Switzerland also share common goals at multilateral level, such as with regard to peace policy, human rights and development policy.
Address for enquiries
EAER Information Service
058 462 20 07, info@gs-wbf.admin.ch
079 385 07 03 (standby)
Publisher
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
http://www.wbf.admin.ch
