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Canada-Europe free trade agreement could be final in 6 months
That's a major one. I never heard before now that it could be ready so fast.
Canada-EU Free Trade Seen Finalized Within 6 Months - Trade Mins
04/23/2012 | 12:16pm
(Recasts lead, updates throughout with quotes.)
--75% of neogiations concluded
--Officials still discussing supply management, rules of origin issues
--Fuel quality directive being discussed on a separate track
By Nirmala Menon
Of Dow Jones Newswires
Free trade negotiations between Canada and the European Union are expected to be finalized within six months, the Canadian and Danish trade ministers said Monday.
Pia Olsen Dyhr, Denmark's trade and investment minister, said 75% of negotiations have been completed and the balance is "coming very soon."
"We are actually at the end game," Olsen Dyhr said at a joint news conference with Canadian trade minister Ed Fast after a meeting in Ottawa. "My perspective would be that within half a year we (would) have finalized this agreement."
"That's our hope," added Fast, who said Canada is hoping for "the most comprehensive and ambitious" trade agreement it's every signed.
The EU is negotiating several trade agreements around the world and "I see this as actually the one moving forward and being in a very positive stream," Olsen Dyhr said.
She said discussions about rules of origin which identify the origin of a product are ongoing. These rules are stricter in Europe than in Canada. Officials are also discussing Canada's supply management system, which protects poultry and dairy farmers, she said.
Fast said Canada won't sign an agreement "unless it's in the best interest of Canadians."
Olsen Dyhr said the EU's proposed fuel quality directive is being discussed on a separate track and has "nothing to do" with negotiations for the trade pact.
Canada-EU Free Trade Seen Finalized Within 6 Months - Trade Mins
04/23/2012 | 12:16pm
(Recasts lead, updates throughout with quotes.)
--75% of neogiations concluded
--Officials still discussing supply management, rules of origin issues
--Fuel quality directive being discussed on a separate track
By Nirmala Menon
Of Dow Jones Newswires
Free trade negotiations between Canada and the European Union are expected to be finalized within six months, the Canadian and Danish trade ministers said Monday.
Pia Olsen Dyhr, Denmark's trade and investment minister, said 75% of negotiations have been completed and the balance is "coming very soon."
"We are actually at the end game," Olsen Dyhr said at a joint news conference with Canadian trade minister Ed Fast after a meeting in Ottawa. "My perspective would be that within half a year we (would) have finalized this agreement."
"That's our hope," added Fast, who said Canada is hoping for "the most comprehensive and ambitious" trade agreement it's every signed.
The EU is negotiating several trade agreements around the world and "I see this as actually the one moving forward and being in a very positive stream," Olsen Dyhr said.
She said discussions about rules of origin which identify the origin of a product are ongoing. These rules are stricter in Europe than in Canada. Officials are also discussing Canada's supply management system, which protects poultry and dairy farmers, she said.
Fast said Canada won't sign an agreement "unless it's in the best interest of Canadians."
Olsen Dyhr said the EU's proposed fuel quality directive is being discussed on a separate track and has "nothing to do" with negotiations for the trade pact.
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