EFTA looks to ink deal with India soon: Norway minister

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is hopeful of finalising a trade deal with India "within a few days or weeks" and the four-nation bloc has a "clear ambition" to sign the agreement before the country enters its election cycle, Norway's deputy foreign minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik said on Thursday.

- Rezaul H Laskar

Against the backdrop of India reportedly seeking a commitment from EFTA, which comprises Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, to invest up to $100 billion in the next 15 years, Kravik declined to go into specifics but said the issue of specific targets for investments and possible ramifications if such targets aren't met had come up in the negotiations.

"I think what we're looking at now is that there will have to be some sort of targets that we are bound to promote, which we think is a good compromise," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue. There is a lot of appetite for the agreement in the Norwegian business community, and this coupled with India's economic growth of close to 10% a year, makes the EFTA states "very confident" of reaching those targets, he said.