The 16th meeting of the Sino-Norwegian Joint Committee was held on May 27, 2005. MOFCOM's minister Zhang Zhigang visited Norway on this occasion, and attended the opening of the meeting together with State Secretary Hiim of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The agenda for the Joint Committee meeting covered a wide range of bilateral issues, among others sectors with great potential for future cooperation (maritime, fishery, energy, environment, high tech and telecom), investment cooperation, China's exports of animal based products to Norway, intellectual property rights protection in China.
Minister Børge Brende, Ministry of Trade and Industry, also had talks with Vice Minister Zhang. China is now Norway’s largest trade partner in Asia, and Mr. Brende said Norway wished to pursue a free trade agreement with China within the framework of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in order to enhance the positive Sino- Norwegian trade relations further. Mr. Zhang responded positively, and said China was willing to go on enhancing trade and economic cooperation with Norway on the basis of complementary advantages.
EFTA consists of Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Norway and Switzerland together accounted in 2002 for the 13th largest economy in the world, larger than economies like Brazil or Australia. A free trade agreement involving all the EFTA members could make such an agreement more attractive to other possible free trade partners than if each country negotiates by itself .