Today we met as a group with the good folks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As with most visits to bureaucratic offices for official purposes, we expected a brief presentation followed by a Q&A session of talking points and scripted responses to our questions – what we received was quite the contrary.
We spent 3 hours at the Ministry meeting with three different individuals that are experts on Canada-Japan and trade agreements. They were all very knowledgeable about the topic of our course and provided non-talking-point answers to our questions. Included in our discussion today were detailed responses to the existing Canada-Japan trading relationships and the prospects of a potential agreement. Additionally, many of the questions that we have had about the EPA/FTA that we’ve been spending so much time thinking about – without really knowing how to find answers to outstanding questions we have – have now been addressed giving us the confidence to begin our negotiation next week.