From submitting consultation papers to participating in stakeholder groups, the past year has been a busy period for OWIT-Toronto’s Trade Policy Committee members. And the upcoming months promise more of the same.

Here is where we have participated since the fall of 2020:

• Gender and Trade Advisory Group (GTAG) to provide suggestions to Global Affairs Canada (GAC) for new provisions in free trade agreements (FTAs) and to its Sub-Committee to provide feedback on gender-based analysis (GBA+) of FTAs and trade policy
• Virtual business roundtable (Feb 2021) to share views on a possible comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) with Indonesia
• USMCA SME Counselling Network Pilot Program: to strengthen ties across borders and share best practices with other country counterparts
• Submission on a possible Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Feb 2021)

In the coming months, we will be submitting comments on an anticipated bilateral Canada-U.K. free trade agreement and a possible U.K. accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). We will also consider possible input to the G7 and G20 meetings (June 2021) and to the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (November 2021) at which Canada will be proposing a gender and trade related roadmap.