Canada is a strategic partner for the EU, a G7 member and a like-minded partner who shares a similar global agenda and world view. The EU-Canada partnership is rooted in our shared values, reflecting a long history of close cooperation and strong people-to-people ties. The Canada-EU Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA), the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and wide-ranging bilateral dialogues underpin this relationship.

To support EU-Canada cooperation, the Partnership Instrument (PI) has been implemented in Canada since 2014. The PI is one of the instruments managed by the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) of the European Union, created in 2011 with the aim to turn EU foreign policy into action.  

In the current financing period (2021-2027), FPI will continue supporting EU-Canada cooperation through a new instrument: the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI), also known as Global Europe. 

Building on previous cooperation with Canada, the EU, through Global Europe, will continue to strengthen its ties with Canadian counterparts. Our goals include: improving the knowledge of the EU presence in Canada, maximising CETA benefits, advancing policy dialogue and cooperation on shared priority areas which include critical raw materials, just and clean energy transition, Arctic policy, security and defence, circular economy or ocean governance to mention some. This instrument also covers cooperation in tackling global challenges, while promoting collaboration in multilateral fora and facilitating people-to-people partnerships (including, but not exclusively, city-to-city, business, youth, universities, journalists, diplomats).