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Resources

•"EFTA Standing and EEA Joint Committees Meet on 29 and 30 March 2012 - EFTA." EFTA Standing and EEA Joint Committees Meet on 29 and 30 March 2012 - EFTA. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2012.•"Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada." Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2012.•"Glossary:European Free Trade Association (EFTA)." Statistics Explained RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2012.•Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2012.•"The EFTA States - EFTA." The EFTA States - EFTA. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2012.

When did the council meet the last time?

Important events or turning points of the association

Content

  • Brief History
  • Member countries
  • Purpose of agreement
  • Reason for development
  • Important events of the agreement
  • Recent meetings development
  • Canada's role
  • Impact for member countries
  • International impact
  • Video
  • Resources

Brief History

European Free Trade Association

By: Shakeel Basheer and Shobicka Mehanathan

  • established in 1960.
  • founding members : Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UNited Kingdom.
  • From 1967, established free trade in industrial products.
  • Over the decades, EFTA membership fluctuated.
  • 1970 - Iceland
  • 1986 - Finland
  • 1991 - Liechtenstien
  • 1973 - UK and Denmark
  • 1986 - Portugal
  • 1995 - Austria, FInland and Sweden
  • EFTA signed Free Trade Agreements with the European Economic Community (EEC), now the EU in 1972.
  • also signed Free Trade Agreements with 30 nations and custom unions from across the world.

Member Countries

Original signers of the accord were:

  • Austria
  • Denmark
  • the United Kingdom
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland

When was EFTA estaclished?

Mini Quiz

Name the 4 member countries

What does EFTA satnd for?

Purpose of the association

  • to promote the non-agricultural economic development of its members by doing away with barriers to non-agricultural trade.
  • to establish free trade among members.
  • to seek a broader economic union with the rest of Western Europe.

European Free Trade Association

  • Norway
  • Switzerland
  • Iceland
  • Liechtenstien
  • The first goal was accomplished in 1966.
  • Negotiations toward the second goal began in 1961 but its bid was rejected (1963) by France, however, later discussions succeeded.
  • In 1973, Denmark and Great Britain left EFTA to join EC.
  • In 1994, development of a single market between the EU and most EFTA nations.

EFTA was established in 1960 as a free trading alternative to the EU.

  • EFTA was established on May 3,1960.
  • On January 4,1960, the Treaty on European Free Trade Association was initiated in the Golden Hall of the Prince's Palace of Stockholm.
  • This established the progressive elimination of customs duties on industrial product.

By which year did EFTA have four members?

1997

December 4, 2012

Reason for Development

  • In 1977, the EFTA entered into agreement with the EEC that established industrial free trade between the two organizations' member countries.
  • In 1986, Finland joined.
  • In 1991, Liechtenstein joined.
  • In 1992, the European Communities, the EFTA, and their member States, entered into an agreement aimed at the integrating the two economic areas into a so-called European Economic Area (EEA).
  • EFTA was established by its members because of their dissatisfaction with the social and political goals of the European Economic Community (EEC).
  • EEC was created by the Treaty of Rome for the purpose of gradually integrating its members' economies.
  • In October 1991, the members of EFTA and EEC agreed to establish a free-trade zone among them called the European Economic Area (EEA), which came into effect on January 1,1994.
  • Iceland applied for EU membership in 2009 due to 2008-2012 Icelandic financial crisis.
  • Soon after its 1957 beginnings, however, the EEC's agenda began to progressively expand towards more social and political integration.
  • To better reflect these broadened goals the EEC eventually became known as the European Community (EC).

Recent meetings and developments

  • In 1992, its 12 members signed the Treaty on European in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and the European Community became the European Union.
  • Also known as the Maastricht treaty, this agreement called for the creation of an Economic and Monetary Union by the end of the 1990s.

Members of the European Parliament and Parliamentarians from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway met in Brussels on 27 November 2012 for the 39th meeting of the European Economic Area Joint Parliamentary Committee (EEA JPC).

  • The EFTA Council met for the last time in 2012 on 4 December and reviewed the winter Ministerial meeting held on 12 November in Geneva. The budget for 2013 was also approved.

On 26 November 2012, the EEA EFTA Ministers, the Committee of Members of Parliament of the EFTA States (MPS) and the EFTA Consultative Committee (EFTA CC) met at the EFTA Secretariat in Brussels.

At its meeting on 26 November 2012 in Brussels, the EFTA Consultative Committee (EFTA CC) met both with the Icelandic Minister of Foreign Affairs to discuss developments in EFTA’s third-country relations, and with EEA EFTA Foreign Ministers to discuss the EEA.

Canada's role

Impact for member countries

  • Each country in the EFTA maintains its own commercial policy toward countries outside the group.
  • EFTA has shown a remarkable ability to adapt to new political and economic realities.
  • EFTA has contributed significantly to the economic development of its Member States and to the promotion of free trade.
  • The Canada-EFTA FTA is a “first-generation” agreement with an emphasis on tariff elimination.
  • Canada and the EFTA States have held two meetings of the CEFTA Joint Committee, most recently in Ottawa on May 9, 2012, to discuss the implementation and operation of the Canada-EFTA FTA.
  • During this latest meeting, as required under the terms of the Agreement, the Parties explored the possible expansion of the FTA into additional areas.

International Impact

  • EFTA also originated the Hallmarking Convention and the Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention, both of which are open to non-EFTA states.
  • EFTA has several free trade agreements with non-EU countries as well as declarations on cooperation and joint workgroups to improve trade.
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