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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania welcomes the signing on Sunday of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which opens up new possibilities for EU exporters and consumers.

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius, the agreement with Canada will create unique conditions for the development of bilateral trade and investment.

“We are glad that the trade deal has been finally signed with our close partner – Canada. An ambitious EU trade policy, which can help Lithuanian exporters tap into new markets, remove unnecessary barriers to trade and, thus, promote job creation, is important for Lithuania. Hopefully, we shall seek similar ambitious results also when negotiating with the U.S. and other global trading partners,” says Linkevičius.

The ambitious EU-Canada trade deal will scrap 99 percent of customs duties, significantly improve access to Canadian public procurement and services markets, and eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade. CETA is expected to increase two-way trade in goods and services by 25 percent.

The agreement will significantly improve export conditions for Lithuanian products, which are traditionally exported to Canada – furniture, textile and apparel products, air-conditioning equipment, electrical equipment, fishing nets and plastic products – on which Canada has applied import duty. CETA will improve conditions for textile producers, e.g., import taxes due for importing T-shirts will not be at the 18 percent rate, and import taxes due for importing furniture to Canada will not have a value of 9.5 percent. Lithuanian producers exporting to Canada will be able to save more than EUR 1 million per year exclusively due to the liberalisation of the tariffs. The agreement will also enable to expand exports of Lithuanian food products, as Canada will almost double the EU’s tariff-free quota for cheeses.

Canada is the EU’s 12th most important trading partner. The value of bilateral trade between the EU and Canada is EUR 60 billion per year. In 2015, Lithuania’s exports to Canada were worth 164 million euros. Lithuania’s trade balance with Canada has been positive since 2002. In 2015, Lithuania exported to Canada 10 times more goods than it imported. Even 99 percent of exports to Canada are goods of Lithuanian origin. In 2015, the value of exports to Canada skyrocketed and exceeded EUR 9 million. In 2015, IT services exports to Canada grew 77 percent.

CETA will provisionally take effect in early 2017, once the European Parliament approves it.