Philippines to host Canada’s Indo-Pacific ag office

Canada’s agriculture department and food safety agency will carry out their part of the federal government’s Indo-Pacific strategy from a new office in Manila, Philippines.

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced the office’s location Wednesday in Ottawa during a meeting with the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA), which represents Canada’s export-dependent ag commodity groups on international trade matters.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will man the office as a joint-venture base for a mobile Indo-Pacific team, the government said.

That team, the government said, will work directly with Canadian diplomatic missions, Canadian stakeholders, foreign representatives and other decision-makers across the Indo-Pacific region, to “advance mutual trade objectives for the sector.”

The plan for a dedicated ag office in the region was laid out in broad strokes last November during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s tour through the region, when he pledged $31.8 million over five years for an AAFC Indo-Pacific office at a then-unspecified location.

Canada’s broader Indo-Pacific strategy, which was telegraphed in Global Affairs Canada’s departmental plan earlier in 2022, was laid out later in November with $2.3 billion pledged in related spending.

The new ag office will work “hand in hand” with Canadian government resources already in place in the Indo-Pacific and help “strengthen partnerships, advance technical co-operation, support Canadian exporters in finding new business opportunities, and help position Canada as a preferred supplier in the region,” the government said Wednesday.

Bibeau on Wednesday hailed the Philippines as “an important partner” under Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy, and the Manila office as an “opportunity to build on our economic relationship, and enrich people-to-people ties.”

The government, she said, “will continue to help Canadian farmers, food processors and exporters maximize their opportunities, and diversify their markets in the world’s fastest-growing economic zone.”

Trade Minister Mary Ng, in the same release, described the office as “another step forward to reaching our goals” of expanding trade, investment and “supply chain resilience” under the Indo-Pacific strategy.

CAFTA president Dan Darling, in a separate statement Thursday, said the organization is pleased the office will be in the Philippines, a “growing trading partner for Canada and a key member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.”

A trade pact with ASEAN “should be one of Canada’s top trade negotiations priorities,” he said, and “putting technical expertise and boots on the ground to help deepen and strengthen trade and investment ties is a major step forward.”

Canada is still in talks toward such a pact with an ASEAN trade bloc that includes the Philippines as well as Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Canadian Cattle Association president Nathan Phinney, in a separate release Thursday, said producers are “encouraged to see the progress in establishing the (Indo-Pacific ag office) and look forward to seeing the office enhance market access opportunities in the region,” noting the region today takes about 20 per cent of Canada’s beef exports.

Following the 2018 signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade deal, Phinney said, cattle producers have seen the “tremendous growth potential in the Indo-Pacific region for Canadian beef exports” and are “excited for future export growth opportunities in the region.”

Canada’s beef exports to Japan alone have increased 70 per cent since the CPTPP’s tariff cuts took effect, the CCA said, also noting Vietnam’s purchases of Canadian beef have grown from $8 million in 2019 to $129 million in 2022, and the Philippines’ from $5 million in 2020 to $13 million in 2022.

The CPTPP bloc’s members in the Indo-Pacific include Australia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam. Canada has also had a free trade deal in force with South Korea since 2015, and is in separate bilateral talks or “exploratory discussions” toward trade pacts with several other Indo-Pacific countries.

Darling said CAFTA is also pleased with the “nimble” concept of a mobile team, which would allow the officials involved to “provide support throughout the vast Indo-Pacific region, which will help agri-food exporters continue to grow their market share in a region that is fiercely competitive.”

Groups including Cereals Canada, Pulse Canada and the Canola Council of Canada previously hailed the plan for an Indo-Pacific ag office, jointly noting in November that while those sectors “enjoy a significant export share within the region and there are great opportunities… the rise of non-tariff barriers may prevent Canada from achieving its full potential in the region.”

Support for resources to deal with sanitary and phytosanitary issues in a “strategic, co-ordinated manner with industry” would help to build, and maintain, market access, they said at the time. — Glacier FarmMedia Network