ISDS Case Map
Canada
Calling his country's backing for India in getting the waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) last week a "turning point" in bilateral ties, Canadian foreign affairs parliamentary secretary Deepak Obhrai has said his country will now focus on a free trade agreement with New Delhi.
The Canadian government said Tuesday it had wrapped up free trade negotiations with Jordan, along with parallel labor and environment agreements.
We visited Colombia from July 18-25 on behalf of one million Canadian public sector workers. Our mission was to see for ourselves whether our opposition to the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement was justified. What we saw and learned confirmed that we are right to oppose this deal and to speak out against it on behalf of Colombian workers and their families.
Negotiations for a new trade agreement between the Caribbean and Canada should start in October.
With the Canada-Colombia deal done, but the text still kept secret, some say that the provisions on labour and the environment at least establish a record of commitment, while others say that without enforceable complaint mechanisms the side agreements amount to little more than lip service.
Paul Moist, the President of Canada's largest union, expressed concern about a free trade deal between Canada and Colombia during a recent meeting with Fabio Valencio, Colombia's Minister of the Interior.
Jordan and Canada will initially sign a joint free trade agreement at the end of this month and will be officially approved by the end of this year, Jordanian General Secretariat for the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Muntaser Al-Aqla said on Tuesday.
The federal government says it will aggressively go after bilateral trade deals with other countries after the collapse of nine days of talks on a comprehensive global trade agreement.
When Canada concluded free trade talks with Colombia in June, the announcement came in the form of a release on a Saturday. But burying news of the deal on a weekend hasn't stopped a storm of protest. In Ottawa, the opposition blasted the government for reaching an FTA (whose ratification will likely take months) without waiting for an assessment report from the Commons trade committee, whose members recently travelled to Colombia - a country that has been plagued by drug trafficking, paramilitary death squads and other forms of strife.
Canada and Indonesia are currently in talks to ink a bilateral agreement that will help protect the investments of Canadian companies in Indonesia, as well as promote Indonesia's potential to Canadian businesses.
