| Author (Person) | Cronin, David |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.10, No.9, 11.3.04 |
| Publication Date | 11/03/2004 |
| Content Type | News |
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By David Cronin Date: 11/03/04 THE European Union and Canada are set to sign an unprecedented agreement to reduce obstacles to trade and investment by mutual recognition of standards, a move which a senior MEP says should be "a wake-up call" for similarly upgrading trade relations with the United States. At a summit in Ottawa on 18 March, Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern and his Canadian counterpart Paul Martin are due to sign a blueprint for a 21st-century trade and investment enhancement agreement. The agreement will mark a new type of external relations accord for the EU. It has been designed to reflect Canada's status as the EU's largest trading partner, after the US, as well as how the volume of business done by Canadian firms in Europe is roughly five times the volume of Canadian exports to this continent. It aims to reduce what both sides regard as unnecessary obstacles to trade and investment by facilitating the mutual recognition of quality standards and professional qualifications. "This will not be a market access agreement - dealing with tariffs and barriers - in the classic sense," said Jeremy Kinsman, Canada's EU envoy. "Pascal Lamy [the European trade commissioner] has said such agreements are 19th-century stuff. "Last year Canadian exports to the EU were worth CAN $19 billion [€11.6 bn]. But sales by Canadian affiliates in Europe were worth CAN $76 billion in 2001, the latest year for which I have figures. "So we don't sell to Europe, we sell in Europe. It's the same with the US, which is why you have business in the US saying we need to lower the political heat [in transatlantic relations]. Bad politics spoils good economics." UK MEP James Elles told this paper that this agreement "should be a wake-up call for Lamy to be consistent in this approach and to do the same thing with the United States". Elles, the founder of the Transatlantic Policy Network, which advocates a transatlantic market, said the Commission should look to "eliminate the remaining obstacles in the trade with the US in the way they do it with Canada". Speaking to European Voice, Kinsman said that while the entire agreement should not be completed until after the Doha round of world trade talks is concluded, provisional deals could be reached in some areas if the current impasse in the round cannot be broken. The thematic chapters on which the negotiations will focus include scientific cooperation, financial services, electronic commerce and intellectual property rights. Other topics expected to be discussed at the summit include access to medicines in countries where AIDS is prevalent, the crisis in Haiti, Afghanistan and planning for humanitarian disasters. According to Kinsman, Canada and Ireland's EU presidency share the view that multilateral institutions, especially the UN, need to be bolstered following last year's invasion of Iraq. "The Irish are wired to the multilateral ethic. They have the same multilateral DNA as we do. But we have got to prove we are not fundamentalists. This is not just creed, we have got to make it work. "We are 31 million people, whereas the [enlarged] EU has 480 million. "Strangely, there aren't that many multilateralists around - because the EU has absorbed most of them." At the European Union-Canada Summit in Ottawa on 18 March 2004, European and Canadian leaders will launch two major new initiatives: the EU-Canada Partnership Agenda, and the design of a new bilateral Trade and Investment Enhancement Agreement. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Countries / Regions | Canada |
