. | . |
Canada looking to add environmental protections to NAFTA by Staff Writers Ottawa (AFP) Aug 14, 2017 Canada wants environmental protections added to a 23-year-old continental trade pact with Mexico and the United States, its top diplomat said Monday, ahead of trilateral talks in two days. These protections, as laid out in a speech by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland at the University of Ottawa, would form part of stronger North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) labor provisions. The proposed changes would also formally recognize gender and indigenous rights, and make it harder for companies to challenge government decisions that are in the "public interest," she said. NAFTA talks are scheduled to start Wednesday in Washington and last several months. Ottawa and Washington have diverged on environmental issues, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau championing the fight against climate change, and US President Donald Trump announcing his country's withdrawal of the 2015 Paris accord on global warming. But Canada has continued to cooperate with like-minded US states on climate issues. "We can make NAFTA more progressive by bringing strong labor safeguards into the core of the agreement," Freeland said in her speech, "by integrating enhanced environmental provisions to ensure no NAFTA country weakens environmental protection to attract investment, for example, and that fully supports efforts to address climate change." To reporters, she acknowledged: "On the environment, it is no secret to anyone that Canada has a different view (than the US) of probably the most important step the world has taken when it comes to the fight against climate change, which is the Paris accord." But she added that both nation's environmental standards have been strengthened since the original 1994 NAFTA deal, and the Trump administration has signalled to Canada its desire to continue working together to protect their "many shared environments." Freeland cited the Canada-EU free trade agreement that comes into effect on September 21 and includes a section on environmental protections as a template for modernizing the country's trade ties with the United States and Mexico. Freeland also called for changes to NAFTA to take into account technological advances of the past two decades, harmonizing regulations, removing barriers to bidding on government procurement, and allowing greater movement of professionals between the three countries. She vowed a spirited defense of Canada's supply-managed dairy and poultry industries, and cultural sector, and reaffirmed a demand to maintain a strong dispute settlement system that Trump has said he wants nixed. According to Canadian government figures, Canada, the United States and Mexico together account for one-quarter of the world's economy, with a combined 470 million consumers. Trilateral trade has tripled since 1994 to Can$19 trillion (US$15 trillion). Freeland said that Canada is the United States's biggest customer, buying more from the United States than China, Britain and Japan combined. Bilateral trade in goods and services in 2016 was valued at US$635.1 billion. The United States had a slight trade surplus of US$8.1 billion with Canada last year.
Phnom Penh (AFP) July 13, 2017 Cambodia has outlawed sand exports from a coastal region where it has been primarily funnelled in huge quantities to Singapore, a move met with scepticism from activists who said previous bans on the destructive industry had failed to take root. Environmental groups have long accused Cambodia of running damaging and corrupt sand dredging operations along the southwest coast and the Mekong ri ... read more Related Links Our Polluted World and Cleaning It Up
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |