The following is excerpted from the 15 April 2013 edition of The Montreal Gazette.
Iceland on Monday became the first European nation to strike a free trade deal with China, offering hope for its recession-battered economy while giving Beijing a leg up in its drive for expanded influence in the Arctic.
The China-Iceland free trade pact will lower tariffs on a range of goods and is expected to boost seafood and other exports from the remote Nordic state to the world’s second-largest economy. It comes at the start of a five-day visit to China by Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir that highlights her country’s attempts to diversify an economy that was badly mauled by the bursting of a financial bubble in 2008.
This article is available in its entirety at:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Iceland+becomes+first+European+country+sign+free+trade+pact+with+China/8243429/story.html