OTTAWA -- Trade Minister Ed Fast says the legal text of the Canada-European Union free trade agreement will be ready for Canadians to examine soon, possibly in the next month or two.
The agreement was signed amidst much fanfare in mid-October, but finalizing the text and putting it into legal language has taken time.
Fast says the delay is not unusual given the complexities of the agreement.
There will be no major surprises in the legal text, he says, which will reflect the documents released during the Oct. 18 signing ceremony in Brussels.
He says Canada may see the document before Europe, where it will have to be translated into 24 languages.
Fast made the statements in a brief interview following a meeting with his Colombian counterpart, Santiago Rojas Arroyo, who was in Ottawa to discuss trade progress between the two countries since the start of a free trade agreement in August, 2011.
Although the global numbers may not reflect a major increase in bilateral trade over the past two-and-a-half years, Rojas said 350 new Colombian companies are now exporting into Canada.
The minister also said Colombia had made strides in improving its human rights record, and in negotiating a peace accord with rebel groups.
Human rights groups still cite Colombia as one of the most dangerous countries in the world with ongoing human rights abuses against activists.
