Mission focused on Colombia and Peru, both celebrating free-trade anniversaries with Canada
August 15, 2014 - Lima, Peru - Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, today wrapped up his successful six-day trade mission to Colombia and Peru, key Canadian partner countries in the Americas and priority markets under Canada’s Global Markets Action Plan (GMAP).
During the mission, the Minister promoted and showcased Canada’s strengths and capabilities in the oil and gas, mining, and defence and security sectors—priority sectors under GMAP—and celebrated the August anniversaries of the free trade agreements that Canada has with the two countries.
The free trade agreement with Peru, in force since August 2009, and the three-year-old agreement with Colombia are helping Canadian companies create new business opportunities and jobs by giving them competitive advantages in these priority markets.
Minister Fast and the Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism, and Agriculture), who accompanied the 19-member Colombia trade mission, underscored how Canadian companies in the priority sectors are building prosperous and secure futures for the people of the Americas through their investments.
Among Canada’s tools for facilitating greater trade and business opportunities with Colombia is the recently opened office of Export Development Canada (EDC) in Bogotá. The office will expand EDC’s presence in Latin America and help Canadian companies take advantage of the anticipated boom in Colombia’s infrastructure projects.
Minister Fast welcomed an announcement on new education agreements between Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines and CALDO, a consortium of nine Canadian universities, to help Peruvian officials develop skills in research, capacity building and training in the electricity and hydrocarbon sectors. These new education agreements are consistent with Canada’s long-standing support for improving Peru’s education system, aimed at helping the country build an outward-looking, skilled and innovative workforce.
Minister Fast also announced, on behalf of the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, that Canada will provide $15 million over five years to the International Organization for Migration to undertake a project that will bring economic development, jobs and wages to 4,000 small-scale farmers, many of them women, in some of the poorest rural areas of Colombia. This project is in line with the Government of Colombia’s goal for integrated rural economic development, which includes focusing on under-represented groups, civil society and the private sector.
In his meetings with the Peruvian and Colombian governments and with private sector representatives in both countries, Minister Fast discussed Canada’s engagement as an observer in the Pacific Alliance, a trade bloc comprising Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, with a focus on deep regional economic integration and market orientation toward the Asia-Pacific region.
Trade missions are an important part of Canada’s pro-trade plan, which is providing small and medium-sized enterprises with the tools they need for success at home and abroad. Other important tools in the plan are free trade agreements, foreign investment promotion and protection agreements and working with our Trade Commissioner Service, Export Development Canada and Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC).
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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