Following his election in June 2021, Adrian Thomas was in Ottawa for a series of meetings with key partners.
During their two-day visit, Adrian Thomas, EUCCAN President and Delphine Adenot-Owusu, EUCCAN’s executive director, met with the EU Ambassador to Canada, HE Melita Gabric and her team, with EU and Canadian companies and with the president and CEOs of business associations.
CETA and EU/Canada business relations
The discussions focused around CETA and EU/Canada trade and investments opportunities.
EU and Canada have long lasting relations. Our leaders have reiterated this relation at the last EU-Canada summit in Brussels. Our society are bounded by common interests, democratic values and strong people to people ties.
CETA, in force since now four years, is a business and commercial extension of this good relationship. The positive results show that this very comprehensive trade agreement helps companies seizing new business opportunities in terms of trade and investment on both side of the Atlantic.
COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences on supply chain and the global shifting economy have shown once more that the EU and Canada have the same vision and can count on each other.
The need to promote CETA and strengthen EU/Canada business relations was highlighted during all the meetings. EUCCAN, with its new strategy in place and with a new leadership at the helm, is very well positioned to play an important role in both goals. EUCCAN will continue to share and publish CETA information through guides and online events. EUCCAN will also reinforce its advocacy work by creating industry committees to allow gathering direct feedback from companies in order to support them in their European or Canadian trade and investment journey.
Sustainability
At a reception held at the EU residence, Adrian Thomas recalled that EU and Canada have both pledged to work on a sustainable and inclusive post-COVID-19 socio-economic recovery and on addressing the climate change and environmental challenges.
Sustainability is no longer a choice. As the pressure on resources increases, mentalities and habits must change. To avoid severe consequences of global warming, there is a strong need to limit the warming to 2 or even 1.5 degrees. The Paris Agreement to Address Climate Change, accepted by 195 countries, sets a new direction and a new scale for global climate action. But as legal frameworks are just the starting point, governments, businesses and communities have to take action to move to a zero-carbon economy.
EUCCAN will contribute and support a global recovery towards green, innovative, inclusive and resilient economies.
To that effect, Adrian announced that October will be EUCCAN sustainability month with two special events: a round-table to discuss how can European and Canadian companies leverage CETA to support the sustainability agenda in Canada and worldwide? What are the opportunities, challenges & innovations? The second event will focus on construction. As Sustainability expectations are rising in the construction industry, how can EU and Canadian companies work better together? How can innovations be used to accelerate the build and maintain better?
Adrian said “EU and Canada have a lot to share and work together. EU Companies present in Canada can support Canada’s sustainability agenda and vice-versa. It important to have a platform where ideas and projects can emerge for all companies’ sizes and nationality, hence the industry committee.”
