By Promit Mukherjee
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada aims to establish duty-free access for up to 95% of its exports to Indonesia over the next eight to 12 months, International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu said, after signing a trade agreement with one of Southeast Asia's biggest markets.
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is Canada's first in the economically crucial Indo-Pacific region since Prime Minister Mark Carney took charge earlier this year with a promise to diversify Canada's exports
away from the U.S.
"I see a lot of opportunities in agriculture, in energy and telecom, in defense and aerospace," Sidhu said in an interview.
Indonesia was "seriously looking" at Canadian small modular reactors, a new class of relatively compact nuclear reactors, he added.
The bilateral agreement is likely to be ratified by the respective governments within a year or earlier, Sidhu said, adding that Canadian bilateral trade with Indonesia could double within six years.
Indonesia is a small market for Canadian goods and does not feature among its top 10 trading partners. Total bilateral trade between the two countries was just over C$5 billion ($3.60 billion) last year in sharp contrast to the U.S., Canada's biggest trading partner, where bilateral trade was above C$1 trillion.
Indonesia is Canada's biggest export market in Southeast Asia, giving Canada a gateway to the fast-growing region, Sidhu said.
Canada would look to strike a deal with the Philippines as part of his Southeast Asian outreach soon, he added.
"I will be going to the region quite frequently in the next few months to get that visibility, (and) to have conversations with my counterparts," he said, noting that other countries on his radar in Asia are Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.
CANADA-CHINA TIES
Sidhu said he was likely to travel to China in November as part of an increasing dialogue between the two countries to deescalate a trade war that has hurt some critical sectors in both countries.
Carney has been trying to improve Canada's relationship with China, its second-biggest trading partner, after U.S. President Donald Trump buffeted Canada with a barrage of tariffs.
Carney said on Tuesday he had "constructive" trade talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and expected the dialogue to deepen over time.
"We are having this dialogue, this conversation (and) in the past there hasn't been that kind of engagement. And we want to make sure we are engaged at all levels," Sidhu said.
He said Canada was also keen to engage with India on broader economic ties, but discussions were at an early stage.
($1 = 1.3894 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Jamie Freed)
