The United States does not share a bilateral investment agreement (BIT) or free trade agreement (FTA) with Iceland, although the two sides signed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in January 2009 and conduct an annual economic dialogue. The United States and Iceland do not currently have a commercial and shipping visa contract (i.e., E1/E2 visas for treaty traders and investors). NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg then stressed the importance of Iceland, a country without an army, to the Alliance. Iceland offers a crucial perspective for maritime and aerial surveillance of the North Atlantic (an aspect of Iceland`s geostrategic value that China seems to understand just as clearly given the polar research station`s dual-use capability). [59] In addition, Iceland has an important role to play as interim president of the Arctic Council – According to Stoltenberg, to facilitate dialogue between NATO and Russia: In April 2012, the leaders of the two countries agreed to resume negotiations on the ice free trade area. After two rounds of negotiations, the two sides concluded substantive negotiations on the agreement in January 2013 with a view to reaching an agreement. Embassy of the People`s Republic of China in Iceland Address:Bríetartún 1, 105 Reykjavík, Iceland Tel:+354 527 6688, Fax: +354 562 6110 Visa office hours: 09:00-11:30 (Mon, Wed, Fri, except public holidays) E-mail:chinaemb@simnet.is Trade between countries is small by global standards. Last year, Iceland`s exports to China, mainly fish, amounted to $61 million, while it imported $341 million worth of Chinese goods and services. | 2010 Enex signs geothermal energy agreement in China The same year it turned away from a closer European partnership, Iceland made history by becoming the first European country to sign a free trade agreement with the People`s Republic of China. It aims to boost Iceland`s fishing exports (42.2% of all exports) to China and bring Iceland`s geothermal industry closer to China.
[44] A spokesman for the EU Trade Commissioner in Brussels reacted to the news of the free trade agreement by saying that Iceland would have to end all its bilateral trade agreements if it finally joined the EU. [45] Iceland`s accession to the EEA, as a signatory member of EFTA, is of course still standing. Describes the trade agreements in which this country is involved. Contains resources where U.S. companies can learn how to use these agreements. Iceland has signed a trade agreement with the People`s Republic of China (which entered into force in 2014) providing for duty-free reciprocal treatment for a number of goods. Iceland has a free trade agreement with the Faroe Islands (entered into force in 2006). Iceland signed a customs agreement with Denmark on behalf of Greenland (entered into force in 1985).
The EFTA States have jointly signed free trade agreements with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Egypt, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Georgia, Hong Kong, Israel, Jordan, Canada, Colombia, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mexico, Morocco, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Palestine, Singapore, Serbia, South Korea, Montenegro, the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine. Third, the growth rate of trade in services is also remarkable. According to Icelandic statistics, the number of Chinese visitors (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan counties) to Iceland increased from 26,000 to 135,500 from 2014 to 2018, with a compound annual growth rate of 72.52%, of which 89,550 came from mainland China. In 2017, bilateral trade in services totalled $108.418 million, an increase of 11.19% over the same period last year. Among them, the volume of exports amounted to $90.764 million, an increase of 18.57% compared to the same period last year, while imports amounted to $17.654 million, a decrease of 15.79%. China is not involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership or negotiations between Europe and the United States, prompting some officials and business analysts to view the proposals as aimed at ”curbing” China`s growing power in global trade. The Free Trade Agreement between the Government of Iceland and the Government of the People`s Republic of China While the Doha Round of negotiations within the framework of the World Trade Organization is largely doomed to failure, some countries have sought partnerships inferior to the global level. Two major trade agreements are currently under discussion, both focused on the United States: the Trans-Pacific Partnership, negotiated between Washington and various Asia-Pacific countries, and a comprehensive trade and investment agreement with the European Union. Iceland imports between 2007 and 2018 in thousands of US dollars from China, World Integrated Trade Solution. In 2013, Iceland signed a free trade agreement with China.
It was China`s first free trade agreement with a European country. [6] [3] A free trade agreement (FTA) between Iceland and China was signed in Beijing on 15 April 2013 by Mr Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Iceland, and Mr Gao Hucheng, Minister of Trade of the People`s Republic of China, in the presence of the Prime Minister of Iceland and the Premier of China. The Free Trade Agreement between Iceland and China is the first free trade agreement signed between China and a European country. The joint statement by the Icelandic Prime Minister and the Chinese Prime Minister. In May 1972, China sent the first resident ambassador to Iceland. In 1995, Iceland established its embassy in Beijing and appointed its first resident ambassador to China. In December 1995, China resumed the practice of sending resident ambassadors to Iceland (between 1983 and 1995, the Chinese ambassador in Copenhagen, Denmark, was also accredited to Iceland). By considering signing the Memorandum of Understanding on Belt and Road Cooperation between our two governments and other means, China and Iceland can further strengthen practical cooperation in the fields of agricultural and fisheries trade, aviation and communication infrastructure construction, green energy, Arctic affairs, tourism, education and people-to-people exchanges. [57] In the future, China and Iceland have large areas of cooperation and potential in many areas with great prospects, such as trade, tourism, aviation, maritime transport, innovation and originality industries, construction and new technologies, data center construction, e-commerce, clean energy and environmental protection, as well as airports, ports, highways, tunnels and other infrastructure projects. .
