OREANDA-NEWS. Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen will participate in the informal meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Bratislava gathering in the configuration of trade ministers.

The items on the agenda of the informal Council meeting in Bratislava include the TTIP negotiations between the EU and the USA, the signature and provisional application of the EU-Canada comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA), as well as the modernisation of the EU's trade policy instruments.  In informal meetings, official decisions are not made.

The Council is expected to assess the stage in the TTIP negotiations on the basis of the review submitted by the Commission. The next round in the TTIP negotiations will be organised in early October in New York.

Under the second agenda item, the ministers intend to discuss the preparations related to the signing and provisional application of CETA. The aim is that CETA will be signed at the next EU-Canada Summit on 27 October 2016. Canada's Minister of International Trade Chrystia Freeland is expected to attend the Council of Ministers' dinner in Bratislava.

The Council of Ministers will also deal with the reform of the anti-dumping and coutervailing duty legislation, based on an account presented by EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström.