April 10, 2015 - Panama City, Panama - Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Heraldo Muñoz, Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced the conclusion of negotiations to modernize the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA). The announcement took place on the margins of the Seventh Summit of the Americas in Panama City.
A key part of the government’s pro-trade plan, the most ambitious in Canadian history, is to expand and modernize past agreements in order to maximize the benefits for hard-working Canadians and their families. These important updates will make the CCFTA a 21st-century, next-generation trade agreement, ensuring that Canadian businesses can export their goods, creating jobs and economic prosperity across Canada.
The modernized agreement contains a new chapter on sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and technical amendments to the existing government procurement chapter. In addition, both countries agreed to bring amendments to CCFTA rules of origin into force as soon as possible.
Engagement in the Americas has been a Canadian foreign policy priority since 2007. The updated Canada-Chile trade agreement is an important step toward creating the conditions for a dynamic, transparent and rules-based commercial and investment environment with Canada’s economic partners in the Americas.
With the modernization of the CCFTA, Canada and Chile—both of which are members of the ongoing plurilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations—have demonstrated that they are capable of and committed to finding innovative ways to secure the mutual benefits of trade on a bilateral basis.
Johanna Quinney
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
343-203-1851
johanna.quinney@international.gc.ca
Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
343-203-7700
media@international.gc.ca
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