The talks were headed by Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Maha Ali and Iceland’s permanent representative in Geneva. The meetings come within the free trade agreement signed by the two sides in 2001, and which aims at boosting trade and economic ties through facilitating the entry of industrial and agricultural products into the markets of Jordan and EFTA countries. With the exception of a few products, the goal is to reach full exemption for all industrial products by the beginning of 2014 through the gradual decrease of custom fares, fees and taxes. The meetings also addressed agricultural products that are to be exempted, rules of origin, intellectual property rights and governmental purchases, as well as the possibility of expanding the agreement to include services and investments.
In addition, EFTA in cooperation with the Jordan Chamber of Industry organized a Trade Promotion Seminar in order to shed more light on the possibilities of free trade agreement. The seminar was open for businesses engaged, or interested in engaging with, trade between the concerning countries. The EFTA-experts delivered an overview on regulations and consumer priorities in the EFTA-markets and stressed the importance to familiarize not only with regulations, but also with the consumer culture in the targeted markets.