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Canada strengthens trade with the European Union

Canada strengthens trade with the European Union

75 billion dollars of annual agri-food exports with the European Union by 2025 is the goal set by the Canadian government. Thanks to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the EU, Canadian farmers and food processors can take full advantage of their production capacity. A year has just passed since its signing; during this time, trade between Canada and the European Union increased by 10%1.

In early October 2018, Lawrence MacAulay, Canadian Minister for Agriculture, held strategic meetings with representatives of the EU Commission in order to further strengthen their trade relations. CETA's benefits and opportunities for both sides have been discussed by Minister MacAulay, Phil Hogan, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development and Vytenis Andriukaitis, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety.

MacAulay also held a bilateral meeting with the Spanish Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas. He also met key investors in the Spanish agri-food industry and participated in round tables to promote investment in Canadian agriculture and agri-food products and to discuss new opportunities for Canadian exporters. In Italy, the Canadian Minister met with companies from the grain sector and José Graziano da Silva, General Director of the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

- Great prospects are ahead of Canadian farmers and food producers in the European Union. This is the development of our agriculture, strengthening the economy and creating new, well-paid jobs - commented Lawrence MacAulay.

The CETA provisions can make a significant contribution to this and bring measurable benefits to the EU economy. The contract assumes, among others, the abolition or reduction of duties on the export and import of products and facilitation for European entrepreneurs setting up companies in Canada. For customers, this means lower prices and wider access to goods imported from across the ocean. It is estimated that exports of goods worth 1 billion EUR are associated with 14 thousand workplaces in Europe2. It is also important in the context of exporting quality meat products from Europe that Canada protects more than 140 food products with a European geographical indication under the agreement. It is about products of recognised quality and a long tradition of production, produced only locally and according to strictly controlled rules. In the meat products category, CETA protects, among others, speck from the Tyrol in Austria (Tiroler Speck), Hungarian salami (Szegedi shawls)3, Italian ham prosciutto di Parma and German ham from the Black Forest (Schwarzwalden Schinken). Covering them by CETA means that these products have the same protection against the risk of counterfeiting in Canada as in the European Union and Canadian consumers are guaranteed to buy an original meat product from a given region of Europe.

1 https://www.globalmeatnews.com/Article/2018/10/15/Canada-strengthens-trade-with-EU
2 http://publications.europa.eu/resource/cellar/3e2290c6-433c-11e6-9c64-01aa75ed71a1.0004.01/DOC_1
3 http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2017/october/tradoc_156174.pdf