Pre-Council EU Foreign Affairs Council

Vince Cable Excerpts

Thursday 13th June 2013 Written Statements

[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.