| Meeting with Iceland’s Prime Minister Halldór Ásgrímsson in Tórshavn today, Faroese Prime Minister Jóannes Eidesgaard welcomed the beginnings of an exciting new era in Faroese - Icelandic cooperation. |
Meeting with Iceland’s Prime Minister Halldór Ásgrímsson in Tórshavn today, Faroese Prime Minister Jóannes Eidesgaard welcomed the beginnings of an exciting new era in Faroese - Icelandic cooperation.
Iceland’s Prime Minister is in the Faroes this week heading a delegation of Icelandic business representatives who are here to explore the potential for new business-to-business links, made possible under the terms of the Hoyvík agreement between the Faroes and Iceland.
This new framework agreement, signed on 31 August last year and currently in the process of parliamentary approval, extends the scope of cooperation between the two countries to the free movement of all goods, services, capital and persons, in effect creating a Faroese - Icelandic common market.
Discussing a range of issues of mutual interest, with a particular focus on the challenges and opportunities of globalisation for trade and business, Prime Ministers Eidesgaard and Ásgrímsson agreed on the importance of maintaining a strong alliance and welcomed the increased economic opportunities provided by the Hoyvík agreement.
With Faroese government plans underway to privatise a number of major government-owned companies, including Føroya Banki, Atlantic Airways and Faroese Telecom, Prime Minister Ásgrímsson underlined the positive economic effects Iceland has experienced over the last 10 years as a result of its own process of privatisation.
Relations with Europe were also on the agenda, and Prime Minister Eidesgaard stressed the need for the Faroes to strengthen its position as a full partner in the region. While membership of the EU was not considered a realistic option for the Faroes, due to EU fisheries policy, the possibility of Faroese membership of EFTA (European Free Trade Agreement), alongside Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, was currently being explored. Prime Minister Ásgrímsson made it quite clear that Iceland would support Faroese efforts in this regard, noting the advantages for Iceland of being part of a trade alliance that has helped open up markets all around the world.
As fisheries nations and nearest neighbours in the middle of the North Atlantic, cooperation on the management of marine resources has long been at the heart of relations between the Faroes and Iceland. Prime Minister Eidesgaard suggested that there was value in a broader, high profile forum for cooperation on ocean issues across the North Atlantic and that the Faroes and Iceland should work together to this end. Prime Minister Ágrímsson agreed that joint efforts to address common concerns in the region were vital, and that any focus on the ocean should also include issues related to oil exploration and its transportation.