UK, Norway and Iceland Sign Trade Continuity Agreement, UK Statement Reads

This comes at a time when the UK and the EU have been engaged in challenging talks concerning the terms of their post-Brexit trade co-operation.

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.

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

— Liz Truss (@trussliz) December 8, 2020

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.