Canada and the European Union had agreed on a multi-billion dollar trade deal on Friday. The said deal would integrate two of the biggest economies in the world. The pact would also pave the way for Europe to do an even bigger transaction with the US.
The remaining issues of the agreement were resolved by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels. The two leaders had wrapped up the discussion, which started last May of 2009. The talks were stalled for months regarding export quotas for the EU cheese and for the Canadian beef.
Barroso said during a news conference, "This agreement is a landmark achievement for the transatlantic market. With political will and a good dose of hard work, there is a way to reach a result that benefits people on both sides of the Atlantic."
The deal between EU and Canada had marked a breakthrough for the free trade agenda in Brussels. So far, only smaller deals with Singapore and South Korea had been reached with the European Union, said a report from Reuters.
The agreement between the two was projected to increase bilateral trade in services and goods by a fifth to EUR25.7 billion a year, said the latest estimates by the European Union.
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