Canadian team looks to improve trade with Cyprus

AT TEAM of senior Canadian officials yesterday met with their Cypriot counterparts to explore the building of bridges between the two nations in light of Cyprus’ EU accession next year.
The delegation, headed by Assistant Deputy Minister of European Affairs Paul Dubois, arrived on the island on Saturday as part of a three-week tour of the ten countries slated to join the bloc in May.

The European Union represents Canada’s second most import trading partner, with their annual two-way trade in goods and services exceeding $78 billion. Dubois said Canada was looking at ways in which “trade and investment relations with the EU should and could grow”.

He added the Canada-EU Trade and Investment Enhancement Agreement, still in its early stages, was a proposal that would address new generation issues as well as non-tariff barriers.
This could in turn improve prospects for both Canadian business in Cyprus and for Cypriot partners in Canada, while increasing job opportunities and the selection of quality goods and services on both sides of the Atlantic.

Cyprus would also be an important link on a European level as it would be involved in policy-making decisions which were of great importance to Canada such as migration, health and security issues.

Furthermore the deputy minister said Canada was looking at forming bilateral agreements with all 25-member states, allowing young Europeans and Canadians to study, work and travel in each other’s countries without hindrance.

The delegation left the island last night and flew to Malta where it ends its tour of the region.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.