EU-Canada Summit to Launch Negotiations for a New Economic and Free Trade Agreement

(ISRIA)

This year's EU-Canada summit will take place in Prague on 6 May. The EU will be represented by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and the Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek in his role as EU President in Office. Canada will be represented by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Summit agenda will cover a range of issues starting from a follow-up to the recent G-20 meeting in London to an array of bilateral topics, such as the marking of the EU-Canada Air Transport Agreement and the EU-Canada Air Safety Agreement.

The centrepiece of this year's summit is the EU-Canada economic partnership as it will see the launch of negotiations towards a new economic and free trade agreement. This agreement will go beyond current WTO commitments and will reinforce the already strong bilateral trade and investment relationship. Furthermore, leaders will express their commitment to building a low-carbon global economy while strengthening capacity to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Other issues to be touched upon will include Afghanistan, where the EU and Canada are co-operating closely together to promote good governance and the rule of law.

Prior to the Summit President José Manuel Barroso commented: “This Summit will launch key initiatives which will boost our partnership and will bring clear benefits to our citizens. The negotiations towards a new economic and free trade agreement will lift EU-Canada relations to an altogether new level. And the air services- and air safety agreements are the most ambitious we have ever concluded. This is the kind of signals we need to send out at this crucial time, signals that we want to keep open markets to generate prosperity."

Read more here; background information is available here.