Canadian Council of Chief Executives CEO Welcomes the European Union’s Commitment to Launch Economic Partnership Negotiations with Canada

April 27, 2009

Thomas d’Aquino, Chief Executive and President of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, welcomed today’s decision of the European Union to launch negotiations with Canada aimed at establishing an ambitious transAtlantic economic partnership.

The negotiations, which are to be initiated in Prague on May 6 by Canadian and European Union leaders, will deal with a comprehensive set of subjects including trade in goods, technical barriers to trade, customs procedures, cross-border trade in services, investment, government procurement, regulatory co-operation, intellectual property, the movement of persons, dispute settlement, and sustainable development.

Mr. d’Aquino, a long-standing proponent of the initiative, praised the European Union decision.  “This commitment by the European Union, which Canada is expected to reciprocate in the days to come, has great potential to significantly enhance the economic relationship between the world’s largest trading bloc and Canada.  Successful negotiations will lead to job creation, expanded trade and investment, and deeper co-operation between the partners in the domains of research, science and technology, energy and the environment.”

Canada’s commercial relationship with the European Union is large and growing.  The European Union is the second largest market for Canadian exports, after the United States, Canada’s second most important investment partner and a valuable source of new technologies.

The CCCE Chief Executive congratulated Prime Minister Stephen Harper and European leaders for committing themselves to such a positive and far reaching initiative at a time when protectionism is threatening to deepen the global economic crisis.  Mr. d’Aquino also saluted the contribution of

Quebec Premier Jean Charest and fellow Premiers who have strongly endorsed the Canada-European Union plan for deeper economic co-operation.

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives has played a leading role in promoting the transAtlantic initiative working closely with European business leaders and the Canada Europe Roundtable for Business.

Mr. d’Aquino, who has been in Europe for the past two weeks on an advocacy mission aimed at building support for the initiative, is confident that the building blocks are now in place for a productive negotiation.  “In each of the European capitals that I visited, I found enthusiasm among government and business leaders for a comprehensive and ambitious transAtlantic agreement that could be a model to the world for political and economic co-operation.  Canadian business leaders look forward to working closely with our government counterparts and with our European business partners in advancing the negotiations to a successful conclusion.”

CCCE members lead companies that collectively administer $3.5 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of more than $800 billion, and are responsible for the vast majority of Canada’s exports, investment, research and development, and training. In addition to Mr. d’Aquino, the members of the CCCE’s Executive Committee are: Chair, Gordon M. Nixon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Royal Bank of Canada; Honorary Chair Richard L. George, President and Chief Executive Officer of Suncor Energy Inc.; and Vice Chairs Dominic D’Alessandro, Paul Desmarais, Jr., Jacques Lamarre, Hartley T. Richardson and Annette Verschuren, the chief executives respectively of Manulife Financial, Power Corporation of Canada, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., James Richardson & Sons, Limited and The Home Depot Canada and Asia.