Norway ready to restart negotiation on Efta with Malaysia
Published on: Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Kuala Lumpur: Norway is ready and willing to restart negotiations with the Malaysian Government on the European Free Trade Association (Efta), says Norwegian Ambassador to Malaysia, Gunn Jorid Roset (pic).She said although there was no formal negotiation based on several meetings with Malaysian officials, there were positive attitudes on both sides where Norway had expressed its wish to restart talks on Efta."We hope if we could secure the trade agreement, the potential for trade could be even bigger," Roset told Bernama at her residence after a Policy Brief and Network Gathering programme here, recently.
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Efta countries comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are separate from, and are non-members of the European Union (EU).A total of eight rounds of negotiations have been held with the first round in March 2014. The last round of talks was held in Kuala Lumpur in May last year.Efta member countries are one of Malaysia's major sources of foreign investment and at present, there are over 200 companies from these countries, mainly from Switzerland and Norway that have invested heavily in the manufacturing sector in Malaysia.Several notable multinational corporations and major brands have chosen Malaysia to establish their regional and global operations. These include Nestle (Switzerland), Zurich Insurance (Switzerland), DNV GL (Norway), IKM Group (Norway) and Wihelmsen Ships (Norway).
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Roset said Norway hoped negotiation process within the Efta-Malaysia framework could resume, adding that since Norway with a population of just over five million people was not a member of EU, the Nordic country had been negotiating trade agreements through the Efta platform."In meetings with the Malaysian Government, Norway and the other Efta countries have expressed our wish to restart (negotiation). But we do respect the Malaysian side's need to assess and prioritise which processes they engage in," she added.
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On the Oslo-Kuala Lumpur bilateral relations, Roset said mutual ties between the two countries had been strong with many prominent Norwegian companies having established their presence in Malaysia, such as Telenor (known locally by the name of their subsidiary DiGi), Jotun paints and Jordan's dental and oral care brand."We are positive on bilateral relations with Malaysia and Norway companies here having expressed strong confidence in the market. There are about 50 companies here already and these keep on expanding and flourishing," she pointed out.Roset said while most Norwegian businesses in Malaysia had strong focus in the oil and gas industry, the trend, nevertheless, changed in recent years with new interest in renewable energy and information technology- related sectors."We also saw smaller tech companies (from Norway) setting up (operations) in Cyberjaya and involved in artificial intelligence and e-learning platform," she said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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