EU Commissioner Phil Hogan will lead a trade mission to Canada from 30^th April to 4^th May. The trade mission comes in the wake of the successful completion of the trade agreement between the EU and Canada known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). An important element of the visit will be the opening of the SIAL 2017 fair in Toronto.

The Commission is seeking representatives from the EU dairy sector with a focus on cheese exports.

Under CETA, Canada will open for the EU a new bilateral quota of 17,700 tonnes of cheese, 16,000 tonnes of which are for high quality cheeses and 1,700 tonnes for industrial cheese. Moreover, 800 tonnes of high quality cheese will be added through a technical adjustment to the EU portion of an existing WTO TRQ. The effective total will therefore be 18,500 tonnes. In addition, Canada will eliminate its tariff on milk protein concentrates.

If you are interested in participating in the business delegation, please register your application at the following link as soon as possible or by 3^rd of March at the latest:

https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/HLMAGRICanada2017

By Eamonn Farrell

Agri Food Executive