Pre-Council EU Foreign Affairs Council
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)
The EU Foreign Affairs Council (Trade) will take place in Luxembourg on 14 June 2013. I shall represent the UK on all the issues on the agenda.
The substantive items on 14 June will be: the EU negotiating mandate for the EU-US transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement; the state of play of negotiations on the EU-Canada free trade agreement, known as the comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA); and the prospects for a successful agreement on trade facilitation at the ninth WTO ministerial conference (MC9) in December.
Two AOB items will also be discussed: EU work with the Bangladeshi authorities and the International Labour Organisation following the tragic collapse of a garment factory in Dhaka; and political agreement on the two trade omnibus dossiers which bring EU decision making into line with the Lisbon treaty.