Re: Consultations on a possible Free Trade Agreement with Thailand
The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) is a coalition of national organizations advocating for a freer and fairer international trade environment for the agriculture and agri-food sector.
CAFTA's members include farmers, ranchers, processors, producers, and exporters from major trade sectors such as beef, pork, grains, oilseeds, sugar, pulses, life sciences and soy.
A fair and open international trade environment for agri-food is in Canada’s economic interest. Agri-food is responsible for 1 in 9 jobs in Canada, and the majority are in export-based agri-food. Canada exports some $100 billion in agriculture and food products per year. More than half of our agricultural production is exported or processed to be exported.
Thailand
We expect the increasing affluence of 70 million Thai consumers, along with robust demand from international tourists, to drive the demand for high-quality consumer agri-food. Thai consumers have an increasing awareness of health and food safety, and the desire for variety in their diet. This provides opportunity for Canadian agri-food exporters.
CAFTA therefore supports the opening of these discussions and looks forward to continued consultation as they advance. It is CAFTA’s opinion that Canada should prioritize tariff elimination, comprehensive guidelines on sanitary and phytosanitary regulations that promise predictability and efficiency for farmers and exporters and including agricultural biotechnology along the lines of the recently signed CEPA with Indonesia. As Thailand is not a member of the CPTPP, we do not currently benefit from the best-in-class provisions of that agreement in our trade with Thailand.
Given the largely hortatory nature of text concerning sustainable trade in agriculture in the recent cases of the Indonesia CEPA and the Ecuador FTA, we do not see the need for such language in this and future agreements.
Michael Harvey,
Executive Director