Icelandic foreign minister to visit China before first Air China flight

Iceland’s foreign minister, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, will travel to China after her visit to Vietnam, where she will hold bilateral meetings, including with China’s foreign minister and foreign trade minister, mbl.is reported.

The visit comes shortly before Air China begins scheduled flights between China and Iceland. The first flight is due on October 26, with three services a week between Beijing and Keflavík via Copenhagen. Þorgerður has not said whether she will travel on the inaugural flight.

She announced the planned meetings in a Facebook post about the signing in Hanoi of a free trade agreement between the EFTA states and Vietnam. Under the agreement, tariffs on almost all current EFTA exports to Vietnam will be removed, either when it takes effect or in stages.

Þorgerður said Iceland’s exports to Vietnam rose by 40 percent last year, led by seafood. She also pointed to opportunities for Icelandic companies in geothermal energy, green energy and technology solutions. Vietnam has more than 100 million inhabitants, and geothermal resources are believed to exist at 250 to 300 locations in the country, she said.