Canada, India conclude seventh round of CEPA talks
IB Times | February 7, 2013
Canada, India conclude seventh round of CEPA talks
By IBTimes Staff Reporter
The seventh round of Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) talks between Canada and India, which was held in New Delhi, concluded Wednesday.
Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, said that the talks were productive and successful.
"Negotiations this week were productive and focused mostly on market access and related areas," the minister said in a press release Wednesday.
In an email to the International Business Times last week, Canadian government’s spokesperson Jennifer Chiu said that Canada could produce almost 40,000 new jobs from the negotiations with the Indian government.
"Our government is committed to building on our already-strong ties with India to create a partnership that will lead to jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for workers in both our countries," Fast said in the press release.
"More than a million Canadians of Indian origin is clear proof of how both business and people-to-people ties are helping us deepen the Canada-India relationship."
According to Foreign Affairs and International Trade Department of Canada, the federal government has concluded free trade agreement talks with nine countries in less than six years.
"In addition to India, Canada is engaged in negotiations with large, dynamic and fast-growing markets, such as the European Union, Japan and the countries that comprise the Trans-Pacific Partnership," the department announced yesterday.
The six Round of CEPA talks between the two countries was held in Ottawa from November 15-17 last year, and the seventh was held in New Delhi from 5-6 this week.
Nirmal Verma, the Indian High Commissioner in Canada, last month called upon the Canadian government to liberalize the visa procedures and signaled that visa issues would be discussed during the latest round of talks. However, the details of the discussion were not available.
