On 9 October 1998 the Government of Canada
announced the launch of free trade negotiations with the countries of the European Free Trade
Association (EFTA), which are Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The first negotiating session was held in Ottawa 14-16 October of that same year. The
tenth round was held in Geneva in May 2000. Negotiations were concluded on 07 June 2007. The
Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement was signed on 26 January 2008.
On 5 May 2008 Canada tabled legislation in Parliament to implement the free trade agreement.
However, on September 8, 2008, the implementing legislation ceased to exist when the federal
election in Canada was called. The legislation to implement the FTA was resubmitted by the
Canadian Minister of International Trade tabled in the House of Commons legislation to implement
the FTA on January 28, 2009.
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