Croatia's MEPs Dubravka Suica, Ruza Tomasic and Davor Skrlec participated in the discussion along with Assistant Foreign and European Affairs Minister Joseph Gene Petric and the president of the Canadian-Croatian Business Network (CCBN) and businessman Zvonimir Viduk, who supported the adoption of CETA.
Under the agreement, 99% of products traded between the EU and Canada will be exempt from customs duties to mutual benefit.
The agreement will partially and temporarily come into force next year after it is approved by the European and Canadian parliaments and fully after it is ratified by all EU member states. It is expected that CETA will boost trade and facilitate access to European service providers in those areas in which the EU is a global leader, such as maritime services, telecommunications, engineering, environmental protection and accounting services.
EU companies will be able to participate in Canadian public tenders at all government levels (federal, regional and local) in various fields, from IT services to roads and railways.
Canada's Ambassador to Croatia Daniel Maksymiuk said that the agreement had been through a long and difficult journey for more than seven years, adding that he hoped that the Croatian government and parliament would ratify the agreement within the next six months and be among the first EU member states to do so.