TRADE DEALS/Envoy says Canada open to more talks on trade deals with Taiwan

Taipei, June 12 (CNA) Canada's top representative to Taiwan said Wednesday that Ottawa is open to discussions with Taipei over future cooperation in the vein of an investment deal late last year.

Taiwan and Canada signed the investment promotion and protection arrangement (FIPA) in December 2023 to "further enhance the bilateral investment environment" for companies from both sides, according to a press release issued by Taiwan's Office of Trade Negotiations.

Asked if Canada was interested in signing similar agreements to enhance bilateral business relations after FIPA, Jim Nickel, executive director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOT), answered in the affirmative.

"We're in discussions with Taiwan's offer to trade negotiations on a number of other arrangements that could address digital services, trade facilitation, customs," Nickel said on the sideline of a CTOT press event to promote the upcoming Canada Day festival.

He confirmed that Ottawa does "have an interest and planned" to move forward with additional arrangements in the trade investment space with Taipei.

Whether the arrangements will come in the form of separate trade deals or combine as one more comprehensive deal has yet to be decided, he added.

Meanwhile, commenting on Canada's view on Taiwan's bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a trade bloc the North American country is serving as the rotating chair this year, Nickel reiterates Ottawa's stance that it is opened to Taiwan's interests to join.

Canadian trade negotiators will "do our best to have a discussion amongst the existing membership of the CPTPP to ensure that those applicants who are ready and willing to meet all the standards of the CPTPP will get proper consideration by the commercial trade," he said.

Taiwan has expressed hope that Canada's rotating chair position would offer a "window of opportunity" for Taiwan's potential accession because of the democratic values shared by Canada and Taiwan and their robust trade and economic ties.

The CPTPP is one of the world's biggest trade blocs, accounting for 13.5 percent of global trade. Its 11 signatories are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

The United Kingdom formally signed the trade agreement on July 16, 2023, and is expected to accede to the bloc by the end of 2024.