- Baltic Free Trade Area
Infobox Former International Organization
native_name =
conventional_long_name = Baltic Free Trade Area
common_name = BAFTA|
continent = Europe
era = Post-Cold War
status = Disestablished
status_text = Disestablished|
year_start = 1994
year_end = 2004|
event_start = In force
date_start = 1 April 1994
event_end = European Union
date_end = 1 May 2004
event_pre = Signing
date_pre = 13 September 1993
s1 = European Union
flag_s1 = Flag of Europe.svg|
flag_type =
symbol =
symbol_type = |
image_map_caption = legend|#00FF80|Member states
common_languages = Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian.
footnotes = The Baltic Free Trade Area (BAFTA) was afree trade agreement betweenEstonia ,Latvia andLithuania that existed between1994 and2004 .BAFTA was created to help prepare the countries for their accession to the
European Union (theEuropean Communities before1993 ). Hence, BAFTA was created more as an initiative of the Communities than out of a desireBaltic states to trade between themselves: they were more interested in gaining access to thewestern European market s. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=YvjOL51llNsC&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=%22Baltic+Free+Trade+Area%22+European+Union&source=web&ots=jTmnDDTqIE&sig=z3ioSBCZGSn8hyIvw0gliZWOcyg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result Reviving the European union By C. Randall Henning, Eduard Hochreiter, Gary Clyde Hufbauer] Google books]BAFTA's agreement was signed by the three states on
13 September 1993 and came into force on1 April 1994 . On1 January 1997 the agreement was extended to cover trade inagricultural produce . On1 May 2004 , all three states joined the European Union, and BAFTA ceased to exist.BAFTA was part of general co-operation between the three countries, modelled on
Nordic co-operation (seeNordic Council ). Leaders met regularly and, as well as a free trade area, they formed a common visa area and started military co-operation due to the proximity ofRussia . [ [http://www.ucm.sk/revue/2008/1/zajedova.pdf Baltic regional co-operation, Iivi Zájedová] , Slovenská politologická revue]See also
*
Free trade areas in Europe References
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