Finland Times

 

Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Lenita Toivakka. Photo – Lehtikuva.

Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade, Lenita Toivakka on Tuesday characterised the multilateral negotiations to liberalize trade in environmental goods (Environmental Goods Agreement-EGA) beginning Tuesday in Geneva as most welcome from the perspective of Finnish industry. 

 

The liberalization of trade in environmental goods would promote sustainable development, the green economy as well as measures to combat climate change, said a press release of the ministry of foreign affairs.

 

Finland has a strong and rapidly developing cleantech sector with considerable export potential. The liberalization of trade in goods such as solar panels and wind turbines, technologies for the purification of waste water, hazardous wastes and air, and environmental monitoring equipment would develop the emergence of an open market and would increase investment in the green industry also in Finland.

 

"Liberalization of trade in environmental goods is an important trade policy objective for Finland," said minister Toivakka. 

 

“This initiative would help many small and medium-sized enterprises to internationalize, which is a cornerstone of the Team Finland strategy,” the minister added.

 

The informal ministerial meeting of the EU, the United States, China and 11 other World Trade Organization (WTO) members held in Davos in January 2014 issued a joint declaration on a multilateral initiative that aims at the liberalization of trade in environmental goods. 

 

The initiative is based on the decision of countries belonging to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation organization (APEC) to cut the customs duties of 54 environmental products and product groups to at most five per cent by the end of the year 2015. 

 

Negotiations aiming at the liberalization of trade in environmental goods for their part support the WTO's work to liberalize trade, and its benefits extend to all WTO members.

Finland is a pioneer country in green energy and environmental goods.