The Norwegian foreign ministry has denied local press reports that it rejected a British request to set up a formal joint taskforce aimed at preparing a post-Brexit free trade deal between the two countries. The business daily Dagens Næringsliv earlier reported that Britain’s international trade secretary, Liam Fox, had asked Norway’s trade and industry minster, Monica Mæland, to form a bilateral trade working group at a meeting on 14 September. No 10 said it was not true that Liam Fox had asked for a joint working group on trade with Norway: “That did not happen. It was a friendly conversation as opposed to any specific requests.”The format – and formality – of preliminary bilateral trade talks is a highly sensitive issue. Fox is eager to begin work on negotiating new trade agreements with non-EU member states, but the UK is legally barred from signing any trade agreements while it remains an EU member.

Source: The Guardian October 11, 2016 14:17 UTC