You're reading: Ukraine signs agreement on free trade zone with EFTA

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryschenko has signed an agreement on free trade with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which unites Island, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

The document was signed during Hryschenko’s visit to Iceland, where he took part in the EFTA ministerial conference, the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported.

Speaking at the conference, Hryschenko stressed that the agreement on a free trade zone between Ukraine and the EFTA countries is "the first document since Ukraine’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2008."

"We believe that this agreement is one of the greatest achievements of Ukraine’s membership in the WTO. The signing of this document is particularly important, given the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of our country. I am convinced that the efficient implementation of the agreement will promote Ukraine’s integration into the European economic and political space," Hryschenko said.

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a free trade organization between four European countries, Island, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, that operates parallel to, and is linked to, the European Union (EU).

Three of the EFTA countries are part of the European Union Internal Market through the Agreement on a European Economic Area (EEA), which took effect in 1994; the fourth, Switzerland, opted to conclude bilateral agreements with the EU.