Canada has negotiated environmental side agreements to its other free trade agreements in the Hemisphere. Does it support the negotiation of a similar agreement in the context of the FTAA?
• Canada has negotiated environmental side agreements to its free trade agreements in the NAFTA, with Chile and with Costa Rica. These Agreements promote mutually-supportive trade and environment policies and sound environmental management through a combination of national obligations and commitments to environmental cooperation and capacity building. • We believe our experience in this regard is relevant to the challenge of ensuring mutually-supportive environment and trade policies in the context of hemispheric trade liberalization. • It is important to work to develop strong environmental management systems throughout the Americas so that sound environmental decisions are taken. We are exploring the possibility of a hemispheric initiative to ensure that economic development and growth generally, whether driven by trade liberalization or not, is environmentally sustainable. This is one of the issues Canada would like to discuss with FTAA countries if a separate group on environment c
