EU-Canada economic and trade agreement provides worldwide commercial opportunities for Romania, says CCIR

The comprehensive economic and trade agreement between the European Union and Canada (CETA) means actual new opportunities for Romania to exceed the borders of Europe thanks to an almost full repeal of all commercial fees, chairman of Romania's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIR) Mihai Daraban told a conference on CETA jointly organised with the Canadian Embassy in Bucharest, according to Agerpres.

2017-04-04 14:05:56

"We, overall, cannot but be favoured by this CETA agreement, given our economic makeup," said Daraban. "It virtually opens to us other worldwide opportunities, because Romania′s big problem is it has remained captive to the European Union, some forward processors for the big European economy. I believe we should have the courage to get beyond the EU borders in terms of commerce, and this agreement virtually opens to us an unexpected opportunity. We are anyhow a bit slow when it comes to being conquerors, even beyond Romania′s borders, but particularly beyond the EU borders."

He added that with CETA coming into effect, 98 per cent of tariff barriers will be repealed as well as 93 per cent or rates and taxes on agri-food products.

"At the same time, the agreement will mean easier acknowledgment of the professional skills of Romanian employees, as well as participation in the biddings on the Canadian market," said Daraban.
He went on to say that the current agricultural exchanges with Canada generate 6.5 million Euro a year in Romania′s foreign trade revenues.

The CCIR senior official added that the agreement will come into force in some weeks′ time after being ratified by each national parliament of the European Union′s 27 member states as well as by the Canadian Government. He mentioned that, under the agreement, Romanian nationals will be allowed to travel visa free to Canada as from December 1, 2017.