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CETA deal to be ready for approval by end-October: Slovak economy minister

Xinhua, September 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada should be ready for inking by Oct. 27, Slovak Economy Minister Peter Ziga confirmed Friday.

Addressing a press conference following an informal meeting of EU trade ministers here on Friday, Ziga said CETA, as a modern trade agreement, has got a strong support of individual EU member countries.

"A few issues in CETA still remain to be finished, including the so-called provisional application. Nevertheless, we need to resolve this issue as soon as possible," he said.

"If we don't manage to reach an agreement with Canada, then I don't know any other country Europe we should agree with. Canada is close to us both in cultural terms and other values. I don't see any reason for CETA not to be finalized by late October," stressed Ziga, noting that Canada represents a market of 36 million people.

"We've concurred with the European Commission that there are some spheres in CETA that are being viewed particularly sensitively by the public. The European Commission will prepare, therefore, a joint declaration to explain the disputed points. This includes services, investment protection, international legal disputes, and labor and environmental standards," pointed out Ziga.

An extraordinary meeting of EU trade ministers has been convened for Oct. 18 to approve and sign CETA.

"I expect that the agreement will then be signed at a summit of representatives of the EU and Canada on Oct. 27," added Ziga.

More than three million Europeans have already signed a petition against CETA and tens of thousands of people are protesting against it in the streets of European cities.

The petition initiators claim that CETA would affect public policies via a mechanism for resolving investment disputes, it won't bring any benefits to Europeans and it'll threaten high-quality public services.

CETA would eliminate 98 percent of tariffs between Canada and the EU. Endit