Baku-APA. Canada will ease ease restrictions on Mexican travelers while its North American partner opens its market further to Canadian beef, APA reports quoting Bloomberg.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto made the announcement during a bilateral visit Tuesday, ahead of the Three Amigos summitWednesday that includes U.S. President Barack Obama.
“On Dec. 1, 2016 Canada will lift the Mexican visa requirement that has restricted travel,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. “This move will make it easier for our Mexican friends to visit Canada while growing our local economies and strengthening our communities.
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The visa issue in particular had been a source of tension between the two North American Free Trade Agreement partners. It was imposed in 2009 to stem a spike in asylum claims, which rose from 3,400 in 2005 to 9,400 in 2008, by which point Mexicans accounted for one quarter of all Canada’s refugee claims. Trudeau pledged during last year’s election campaign to “immediately” lift the visa restriction.
Canadian beef exports -- valued at C$2.2 billion ($1.7 billion) globally in 2015 -- face restrictions in Mexico, which largely allows products only from animals under 30 months of age, according to the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association industry group.
Canada has long pushed to reopen market access for its beef sector after the country’s bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, crisis in 2003.
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