Minister MacKay congratulates Acadian Seaplants for its expansion in Ireland
August 5, 2014 - Ottawa, Ontario - Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, on behalf of the Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, today congratulated Acadian Seaplants Limited, a leader in the cultivation and processing of marine plants, on the company’s acquisition of Ireland’s largest seaweed processing facility, Arramara Teoranta. This acquisition was made possible by a financing guarantee from Export Development Canada (EDC).
A priority sector under Canada’s Global Markets Action Plan, the fish and seafood sector offers great opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises in Atlantic Canada. Ministers Fast and MacKay encourage SMEs in Atlantic Canada to follow the example of Acadian Seaplants and take advantage of the Government of Canada’s many tools and services to help Canadian SMEs export, grow and prosper, including the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, EDC and the Canadian Commercial Corporation.
SMEs will also benefit from Canada’s recently concluded free trade agreements with South Korea—Canada’s first free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region—and the European Union, the largest market for fish and seafood products in the world, with its 500 million consumers.
On the day the free trade agreement with the European Union comes into force, 96 percent of tariffs for fish and seafood products entering the EU will be eliminated. In addition, 100 percent of these tariffs will be eliminated seven years later, making these world-class products more competitive and creating the conditions for increased sales.
In anticipation of the coming-into-force, Minister Fast also promoted Canada’s world-class fish and seafood industry this past May when he led a Canadian delegation at Seafood Expo Global 2014 in Brussels.
Founded in 1981, Acadian Seaplants is a 100-percent Canadian-owned bio-tech company, employing more than 300 workers, based in Nova Scotia and operating processing facilities in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. The company is a globally recognized industry leader in the processing of seaweed-based products for food, biochemical, agricultural and agri-chemical markets worldwide and in the cultivation and processing of unique seaweeds for Asian as well as global food markets.
Shannon Gutoskie
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Ed Fast
Minister of International Trade
613-992-7332
Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
343-203-7700
media@international.gc.ca
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