Canadian Meat Council welcomes start of Ukraine FTA
The Canadian government has started the process of ratifying the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement (FTA), days after it finally agreed to implement a historic FTA with the European Union (EU).
The deal with Ukraine’s government was formally agreed on 11 July 2016, both countries are now moving forward with respective ratification procedures.
While not on the same herculean scale as the CETA deal, the CMC has welcomed the formal process of the trade agreement with Ukraine becoming law.
Canada’s meat processing industry, in numbers:
Annual sales of CA$25bn ($17.9bn)
Export value of CA $5.7bn ($4.25bn)
66,000 jobs
400 government-registered facilities
“A strategic priority of Canada’s export-dependent meat industry is competitive access to every country in the world,” said CMC president Troy Warren in a press statement.
“The eventual entry into force of the free trade agreement with Ukraine will represent another concrete step toward the realisation of this important industry objective.
“The maximisation of carcass value requires admission to the one market in the world where each meat product is in greatest demand. A survey of Canadian meat packers and processors has confirmed a long term interest in trade with Ukraine, not only as suppliers of high quality meat protein to that country’s 45 million citizens, but also in the context of Ukraine’s access to the European Union and its trade with the countries of eastern Europe,” added Warren.
The Canada-Ukraine FTA will give exporters access to ship unlimited quantities of beef, pork and veal to Ukraine, as well as 20,000 tonnes (t) of frozen pork.
