The UK, Norway and Iceland have signed a trade continuity agreement, a statement issued by London reads.
It has been specified that this is an interim agreement before the countries complete their negotiations on a comprehensive free-trade deal which will take effect next year.
UK Trade Secretary Liz Truss took to Twitter to announce the signing of the agreement.
🇬🇧🇳🇴🇮🇸🇱🇮 Today we have secured continuity for businesses trading goods with Norway and Iceland, worth over £20bn last year.
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) December 8, 2020
We're looking forward to a more comprehensive FTA with Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein that will come into force in 2021. pic.twitter.com/tMpT1KnmeO
The agreement covers trade in goods and envisages that 95 percent of goods traded with Norway and more than 90 percent with Iceland will remain tariff-free, the statement said, as quoted by Reuters.
In 2019, trade in goods between the UK and Norway and Iceland was worth 20 billion pounds (nearly $27 billion).
After the UK left the EU on 31 January, the two sides have been involved in difficult negotiations concerning their trade relations post-Brexit. With an 11-month extension period coming to an end on 31 December, there is still no breakthrough in the talks, with the parties as yet unable to compromise on a number of key points.
