Information meeting on CETA - 28 September 2016

Information meeting on the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and Flemish priorities in the EU trade strategy
28 September 2016, Brussels
Flanders Department of Foreign Affairs and vleva

After a word of welcome by Freddy Evens, Stakeholder Management Team Coordinator with the Flanders Department of Foreign Affairs, Kevin Verbelen, International Enterprise Policy Officer with the Flanders Department of Foreign Affairs explained the content of CETA from a Flemish perspective. After that, Peter Jaspers from Flanders Investment & Trade clarified the importance of Flemish trade with Canada. These explanations were followed by two contributions on the importance of CETA for Flemish businesses by Jane Murphy (CanCham BeLux) and Luc Vanoirbeek (Belgian Farmers' Union).

The second part of the session concerned the Flemish priorities in the EU trade strategy. Freddy Evens explained the provisional results of the relevant survey organised by the Flanders Department of Foreign Affairs. Next, a number of survey respondents were given the opportunity to explain their points of view: Renaat Hanssens (ACV), Olivier Beys (WWF), Gilles Suply (Voka) and Michaël Geelhand de Merxem (Antwerp World Diamond Centre - AWDC). Finally, a debate was held with the participants in the room, during which responses and viewpoints were heard from various angles.

Full report of this information session is available in English and Dutch.

The PowerPoint presentations are available in the original language.