“The government’s willingness to proceed with the ratification of CETA is excellent”

Rome Confagricoltura expresses its satisfaction with the government’s decision to proceed with the ratification of Ceta, the agreement between the European Union and Canada, which entered into force on a provisional basis in September 2017. Not just from a business perspective, but also in the larger economic and political context. According to data provided by the European Commission five years after the signing of the agreement, there have been significant effects for the economy and consumers: bilateral and two-way trade between the EU and Canada has increased by 31% in the past. In five years, it reached 60 billion euros. For Italy, the growth of exports to Canada was 36.3%, reaching 7 billion in 2021. Market share rose from 1.03 to 1.16, making the country our tenth destination outside the EU. Among the best-performing Italian exports, the agri-food sector grew by 80% in processed fruit and vegetables over five years, and by 24% in the beverages, spirits and vinegar sector and 20% in cheeses. The agreement does not only benefit the export of goods, it eliminates almost all duties on goods, preferential access to the services market and the recognition of protected indications of origin in cooperation between signatories (protected by 41 Ceta cover. The designation of origin of 90% of the annual revenue from the export of products), as well as measures aimed at facilitating investments. , mutual participation of companies in public tenders and mobility of workers. In fact, there have been significant flows of Italian direct investments in Canada since 2018 (annual average, 500 million euros between 2018 and 2021, against 153 million in the period 2014-2017). “Recent data on the European Union-Canada agreement demonstrate that the only possible way to resume exports is based on bilateral negotiations – Confagricoltura Massimiliano Giansanti – comments. The balance of power based on substitution, imposition of duties and inevitable retaliatory measures following the problem of agreements regulated by the WTO ending