30 October,2016 09:18 AM IST | | Agencies
EU nations have approved a landmark free-trade deal with Canada, clearing the way for it's signing after a drama that saw Belgian regions threaten to torpedo years of negotiations
Brussels: EU nations have approved a landmark free-trade deal with Canada, clearing the way for it's signing after a drama that saw Belgian regions threaten to torpedo years of negotiations.
"Mission accomplished!" European Union president Donald Tusk on Friday tweeted, announcing that the deal would be signed at a summit in Brussels tomorrow with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Just days ago the CETA
deal, the most ambitious negotiated by the EU, had been hanging by a thread due to protests from Belgium's Wallonia region and other French-speaking communities over its potential damage to local interests.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel held marathon talks in a bid to win the holdout regions over, finally announcing Thursday that the two sides had reached a deal.
