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After 16 years and 21 formal rounds of negotiations, India has finally inked a comprehensive trade and economic partnership with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which comprises Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

As per reports, the agreement, spanning 14 chapters, aims to promote and facilitate and address market access related to goods, trade facilitation, technical barriers to trade, investment promotion, market access on services, intellectual property rights and sustainable development.

As per Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland Bjarni Benediktsson, Iceland is an export-driven economy which has, over the years, developed great expertise in developing value-added supply chains. With the EFTA agreement essentially eliminating tariffs for most icelandic products, endless possibilities of collaboration await the two countries in the fields of fisheries, health, software development and green energy.

The minister also noted that Iceland is on its way to becoming a potential carbon importer, a crucial step towards creating an integrated carbon neutral ecosystems in both the nations.

The agreement promises foreign direct investments in India by USD 100 billion, and to generate 1 million direct jobs in India over the next 15 years.

Representatives from various industries also noted that apart from significant insight and technology sharing in the field of geothermal energy, marine produce and fisheries, India can draw from Ireland in terms of developing gender-responsive budgeting. Notably, as per the WEF report, for the last 14 years, Iceland has consecutively ranked the most gender neutral country, having closed in more than 90% of its gender gap.