Stakeholder Debrief Report – 12^th ASEAN-Canada Free Trade Agreement Trade Negotiating Committee meeting

March 03-07, 2025 (Jakarta, Indonesia)

General overview

Canada hosted the 12^th Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) and Related Meetings of the ASEAN-Canada Free Trade Agreement (ACAFTA) negotiations in Jakarta, Indonesia from March 3^{rd –} 7^th, 2025. The following four negotiating tables met alongside the TNC in Jakarta: Trade in Goods, Good Regulatory Practices, Legal and Institutional Issues (Dispute Settlement only), and Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures/Technical Barriers to Trade. That same week, Canada also hosted Co-Chair Meetings for the Trade in Services and Investment Working Groups in Ottawa, Canada.

The 12^th ACAFTA TNC was co-led by Canada’s Chief Negotiator (CN) and TNC Co-Chair, Mary-Catherine Speirs, Director General, Trade Negotiations Bureau (抖淫视频) and ASEAN’s TNC Co-Chair, Dina Kurniasari, Director of World Trade Organization Negotiations, Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia.

Reports from the following 14 Subsidiary Bodies (SBs) were presented to the TNC:

1. Competition
2. E-Commerce
3. Financial Services
4. Good Regulatory Practices
5. Government Procurement
6. Investment
7. Legal and Institutional Issues (Dispute Settlement only)
8. Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises
9. Rules of Origin
10. Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
11. Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures/Technical Barriers to Trade
12. Trade and Sustainable Development
13. Trade in Goods
14. Trade in Services

Key takeaways from the 12^th TNC

• The TNC noted good momentum generated by increased in-person engagement and encouraged subsidiary bodies (SBs) to leverage this momentum to make significant progress over the next few months.
• The TNC provided general guidance to all SBs in support of the objective of working toward substantial conclusion in 2025, for instance, encouraging sustained engagement between negotiation rounds.
• Canada would host the 13th ACAFTA TNC meeting in early May 2025 in a virtual format.

Key developments from the Subsidiary Bodies  

Discussions at the Trade in Goods (TIG) table marked significant progress with the agreement on modalities for tariff negotiations and a commitment to exchange first tariff offers in the following months. Good progress was also made on the chapter text.

The Good Regulatory Practices negotiating table noted fruitful discussions and good engagement. The Technical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Working Groups continued to progress at a deliberate pace.  At the Rules of Origin table, negotiators continued to discuss outstanding elements in the chapter text and Product-Specific Rules of Origin. In their first round of discussions since January 2024, the Government Procurement Working Group reviewed a new text proposal from Canada and agreed to adopt this text as a starting point for further negotiations.

The Legal and Institutional Issues (Dispute Settlement) and Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Working Groups made progress in their discussions. At its second in-person meeting, the Trade and Sustainable Development Working Group had constructive discussions to narrow the gap in positions between Canada and ASEAN. The Competition Working Group, meeting for the first time in-person, continued to make good progress with over half of the text now closed.

Contact us

If you would like to comment on any of 抖淫视频's trade, investment or innovation programs, policies or services, please contact us at:

Trade Negotiations Bureau (TCD)
抖淫视频
Lester B. Pearson Building
125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, ON K1A 0G2
Fax: 613-944-0757
Email: consultations@international.gc.ca