Martin Rice-Canadian Pork Council:
It was disappointing to not see the agreement completed last week.
Clearly the negotiators and the ministers came with the idea of bringing it to a close.
It is not a case though of us being left out of a deal that others were going to join and that was something that many participants in the agri-food exporters sector were concerned about.
We're not in the negotiating rooms but I had a sense that the people involved were quite confident that it was going to finish.
Certainly they would have finished last week, had there not been a couple of areas of very significant challenge to finish up and that includes autos, it includes some agri-food sectors, likely dairy and it probably was a little bit too far a bridge to cross without certain governments going back to confirm an opportunity to negotiate further.
I don't particularly put Canada in that category.
I felt Canada was prepared to bring the negotiations to a close.
I think there were some other countries that didn't seem to have the mandate for the negotiators to finish up in some key areas.
Rice acknowledges this is a very complicated negotiation involving many different players and many different issues but it will be a very important trade agreement that will almost certainly grow in terms of participants once it is finished.
Source: Farmscape