Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued the following statement today at the conclusion of the Canada-EU Summit:
“I would like to thank the Summit hosts President Van Rompuy and President Barroso for their hospitality here in Europe. This was our first summit with the two presidents since the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty.
“We have had an excellent summit with productive discussions on a wide range of issues.
“Canada has deep roots and relationships in Europe. We have historic cultural and demographic relationships as well as important strategic and military relationships through NATO. And of course we have strong economic and trade links with the European Union being Canada’s second most important trading partner and investor.
“We’re pleased by progress on the Canada-European Union trade talks, which is the current bilateral priority. This summit is a key stage in our trade negotiations. Following today’s summit, the fourth round of negotiations will officially begin in July, and that’s when we hope that we will keep moving the puck up the ice.
“We also discussed in some detail a range of issues, all of which we think will be raised in some way or another at the G-8 and G-20 summits we’re hosting in Canada this June.
“Obviously the biggest set of discussions will be around the economy. We have, I think, broadly speaking, shared objectives for the economic discussions at those summits.
“We also discussed peace and security and non-proliferation as well as development, democracy, and of course, climate change.
“I would just like to conclude by thanking President Van Rompuy and President Barroso once again for their hospitality.”
