Canada to challenge EU seal ban

OTTAWA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Canada will challenge the European Union's plan to ban its seal products at the World Trade Organization, Trade Minister Stockwell Day said Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the European Parliament voted to pass a ban on seal product imports including pelts, oil and meat, which would mean the loss of a large market share for Canada. But the bill still must be approved by individual European governments before becoming law.

Day said the EU ban is not reasonable because Canada now practises a humane and sustainable hunt.

"We'll go to the WTO because it's clear in WTO regulations that if one country wants to ban the products of another, they have to have clear scientific, medically acceptable reasons for doing so, and this EU ban is not based on hard science," he told Canadian Press in a telephone interview from Prague.

Day said that the ban is based on emotion rather than hard facts because opponents portray the seal hunt as it was 40 years ago. He said that it has changed and that clear regulations are now in place, including a ban on hunting or harvesting baby seals.

Canada says seal hunting is necessary to maintain the animal population while giving thousands of people livelihood. But environmentalists and some EU countries' citizens have said the hunting is inhumane, citing the ways of killing and peeling the animals.

EU records 2.3-billion-euro trade surplus with Canada in 2008

BRUSSELS, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) recorded a trade surplus of 2.3 billion euros (3 billion U.S. dollars) with Canada in 2008, the 27-nation bloc's statistics bureau Eurostat said Monday.

Between 2000 and 2008, EU exports of goods to Canada grew from 21.1 billion euros to 26.1 billion euros, while EU imports from Canada rose from 19.0 billion euros to 23.8 billion euros.

As a result, the EU surplus in trade with Canada remained nearly stable, at 2.1 billion euros in 2000 and 2.3 billion euros in 2008, Eurostat said on the eve of a summit between the EU and Canada, which will take place Wednesday in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic.

Among the 27 EU member states, Germany was the largest exporter to Canada in 2008, accounting for 24 percent of the total. It was followed by Britain, France and Italy. Meanwhile, Britain was by far the largest importer of Canada, followed by Germany, the Netherlands and France.

In 2008, nearly two-fifths of EU exports to Canada were machinery and vehicles, while chemicals and other manufactured article each accounted for around a fifth of exports.

Machinery and vehicles made up around a quarter of imports, and crude materials and other manufactured articles each accounted for around a fifth of imports.

EU foreign ministers agreed last week to start negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement with Canada, which would go beyond current commitments under the World Trade Organization rules and reinforce the already strong bilateral trade and investment relationship.

Negotiations are expected to be officially launched at the upcoming EU-Canada summit. (1 U.S. dollar = 0.756 euro)

Bolivia bans pork imports from Mexico, USA, Canada

Special Report: World Tackles Swine Flu

LA PAZ, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Bolivia banned Wednesday the imports of pork or sub products from Mexico, the United States and Canadam, a step taken to stop the entrance of swine flu to the country.

All the import requests of pork food must be sent to the National Unit of Animal Safety to be evaluated and wait for authorization, the National Service of Agriculture Sanity and Food Safety (Senasag) said.

The Senasag has ordered district chiefs to take measures regarding with pork food at the international control points, mainly at airports, where the authorities also plan to set high temperature detectors.

The government said they are seeking budget to buy masks, thermometers and antiviral medicine to face the disease.