Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Free Trade Agreement between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is within the ultimate levels and is predicted to be concluded within the following few days, Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik stated on Thursday, February 22,2024.
“We’re hopeful that we can conclude this now in the forthcoming few days. We will see how it goes. Of course, everything is still under discussion and we have to see how things play out. But we’re very optimistic. We have been at this now for several years and we’ve had very intense discussions. The respective Ministers from both sides, in terms of trade and trade policies, have been personally involved. I met with Mr. Piyush Goyal and discussed this. Again, we are very optimistic,” Mr. Kravik advised The Hindu on the sidelines of the continuing Raisina Dialogue. The EFTA consists of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
Concerns about drug entry
The twenty first spherical of negotiations for the commerce deal have been held in New Delhi from January 8 to 13. However, a doable matter of concern for India, on which there isn’t any readability, is the clause within the draft settlement that might delay entry to reasonably priced, generic variations of patented medicine in India by a minimal of six years, as reported by The Hindu final week.
According to a leaked draft, within six months of the commerce settlement being signed, signatories ought to embrace a “specific duration” throughout which pharmaceutical corporations making use of to their nation’s regulators for permission to promote a drug wouldn’t depend on “undisclosed test data” — on this case, information on the drug’s efficacy and impression on folks — to realize market approval for at the least six years.
Red Sea state of affairs ‘unacceptable’
During his go to, Mr. Kravik stated he had held discussions on world points, such because the conditions in Gaza, Ukraine and the Red Sea, in addition to on Norway’s bilateral relationship with India. Advocating higher financial collaboration between the 2 international locations, he stated, “India is now a leader in the global South and also an ascending power, a potential forthcoming superpower, and a culture that we want to collaborate more with.”
Responding to a query on the state of affairs within the Red Sea, the place the Houthis proceed to focus on industrial delivery, Mr. Kravik stated that as sea faring nations India and Norway have been very a lot aligned on this subject. The truth is that there’s a non-state stakeholder attacking civilian vessels within the Red Sea, inhibiting industrial maritime site visitors which is one thing that can’t be accepted or tolerated, Mr. Kravik famous.
“I spoke to your Foreign Minister about this, and he mentioned he had recently been to Iran to lay down a few markers, saying that this is not something that can stand and that Iran needs… what it can do to prevent this. And I was also recently in Iran. I had the same message, also been clear directly towards the Houthis that this is not something that is acceptable, both from a standpoint of international law, from a standpoint of commercial international traffic, and not something that is tolerable from an international legal perspective,” he stated, expressing hope that sturdy options could be discovered in order that the Red Sea route could be opened once more.
Equal accountability on Ukraine
On the struggle in Ukraine, which is able to full two years on February 24, Mr. Kravik condemned it as a disaster in worldwide violation of the UN constitution. He termed it a difficulty that transcends geography, including that it was not doable to just accept that one nation, Russia, has attacked one other nation, Ukraine, in “blatant violation” of worldwide regulation.
“We have an equal responsibility. Countries such as India, Norway and other countries in the global South just as in the global north have to speak out against such violations of international law, just as we have to speak out when there are violations, for instance, in the Red Sea, the South China Sea, or the Gaza strip,” he stated. “We have to be very principled and clear-eyed about these fundamental forms that have to be adhered to,” he added.
