MOSCOW (Sputnik) — EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Thursday she expected that Europe and Canada would sign a free trade pact by the end of this year.
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) seeks to remove custom duties, saving EU exporters an annual $500 million. It is expected to be discussed together with the Strategic Partnership Agreement at the EU-Canada summit in October.
"There will be an EU-Canada Summit in the autumn, where we expect that we could sign this agreement, and also where we hope to be able to sign the trade agreement – the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement – that indeed is a model," Mogherini said in Ottawa.
Mogherini arrived in the Canadian capital on Wednesday for her first official visit as EU’s high representative for foreign affairs. She used the occasion to underscore close EU-Canadian cooperation on foreign policy, defense and security, as well as crisis settlement abroad.
