Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is finally on his way to Belgium to sign a long-delayed landmark trade deal with the European Union.
He will attend a summit in Brussels where a signing ceremony planned for Thursday was cancelled after a Belgian region vetoed the agreement.
All 28 EU states approved the deal on Friday when consensus was reached.
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, known as Ceta, required all EU member states to endorse it.
The deal removes 99% of tariffs – and officials hope it will generate an increase in trade worth $12bn (€10.9bn; £9.8bn) a year.
The EU says its trade deal with Canada is the most significant and ambitious one it has ever signed. It took seven years to negotiate. The EU and Canada say it’ll set the gold-standard for future trade deals.
On Thursday, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said that after marathon talks they had agreed on an addendum to the deal which addressed regional concerns.
Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia, which currently holds the EU presidency, said the final approval of the deal was “a milestone in the EU’s trade policy”.
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