Joan Burton
Question:73. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada, Mr Justin Trudeau. [32099/17]
View answerTuesday, 11 July 2017
Questions (73)
Written answers
I was delighted to welcome Prime Minister Trudeau and his family to Ireland last week. The Prime Minister was especially welcome as my first international visitor and given the close and historical ties between our two countries. Our meeting was an opportunity to discuss our shared and common outlook on issues such as free trade, multilateralism and climate action.
We discussed the importance of the bilateral trade and investment relationship between our two countries. Annual Trade between Ireland and Canada is valued at over €2.75 billion whilst Canadian tourist traffic to Ireland has increased by 56% in three years, with close to 200,000 Canadians now visiting Ireland every year. The Prime Minister and I agreed that there is considerable potential for further growing trade and economic links given increased direct air access, CETA and the strength of our respective economies.
We discussed the current state of play in relation to Brexit since the commencement of negotiations and I outlined Ireland's priorities in this regard. The Prime Minister was interested in developments in Northern Ireland and I updated him on the current political situation there. He reiterated to me the Canadian Government's continued support for the Northern Ireland peace process and offered any assistance that might be useful to drive progress.
On CETA, the Prime Minister and I discussed the benefits and opportunities from the agreement for both of our economies and progress towards the commencement of provisional application. CETA is a progressive and comprehensive agreement which will remove over 99% of tariffs and will create sizeable new market access opportunities in many sectors for Irish firms.
We discussed Climate Change and reaffirmed our commitment to the implementation of the Paris Accord. The Canadian Government is continuing its efforts to work with the US on Climate Change matters given that US withdrawal from the Paris Accord cannot proceed until 2020. In conclusion, the Prime Minister and I reaffirmed our commitment to working together across a range of common interests and I look forward to working to further strengthen the bilateral relations between Ireland and Canada in the time ahead.