Ottawa, ON- November 18, 2022– Dan Darling, president of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) today issued the following statement in response to the Government of Canada’s announcement of investments in the Indo-Pacific region

 

“CAFTA has long called for deeper trade and investment ties throughout the Indo-Pacific region, and we welcome all efforts to grow Canada’s presence and relations in markets that are vital to our long-term prosperity.

 

This Indo-Pacific is home to some of the world’s largest and fast growing markets and represents a significant opportunity for Canada to diversify its agri-food exports and strengthen our economic activities.

 

As a leading agricultural exporter, Canada needs to be a champion for the Indo-Pacific’s development and a supporter for rules-based trade or risk getting locked out of the region’s economic benefits.

 

We applaud the creation of a Canadian Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office (IPAAO) as well as enhanced resources, including in advocacy capacity, needed to help address the rise of non-tariff barriers, which have prevented Canada from achieving its full potential in the region.

 

We look forward to reviewing details of the investments announced today and engaging with officials and other policy- and decision-makers as they are implemented. We will continue to work alongside the federal government on several priority trade negotiations in the Indo-Pacific including bilateral talks with India, Indonesia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the continued expansion of the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

 

As a country that supports free- and rules-based trade, it is vital that Canadian voices are at the tables that are making the rules for global trade in some of the largest and most dynamic regions and markets in the world.

 

We strongly encourage government to work closely with Canadian agri-food exporters, to benefit from their operational knowledge and supply chain connections in the Indo-Pacific and who can collaborate with government to achieve shared strategic objectives in the region. 

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CAFTA is the voice of Canadian agriculture and agri-food exporters, representing the 90% of farmers who depend on trade and the ranchers, producers, processors and agri-food exporters who want to grow the economy through better access to international markets. This includes the beef, pork, meat, grains, cereals, pulses, soybeans, canola as well as the sugar, malt, and processed food industries. The sectors CAFTA represents 90 per cent of Canada’s agri-food exports and support over a million jobs in urban and rural communities across Canada.

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For further information, please contact:

info@cafta.org