Local companies will be able to reap the benefits of a free trade agreement between Canada and European Union countries once it's signed.
Belgian Ambassador Raoul Delcorde visited Windsor this week to underscore the importance of the European Union-Canada Trade Agreement (CETA).
It would eliminate 98% of the tariffs between the two trading partners.
"It is a substantial, very substantial, opening of new trade avenues between the biggest economic power in the world, which is the EU," says Delcorde.
He adds Canada would be the only G8 country with preferential access to both the U.S. and the EU.
The region's auto industry is one area that could take advantage of new opportunities, Delcorde says.
"It's time to diversify. That's the whole purpose of CETA," he says. "[You have to] of course understand the type of requirements which prevail in the EU, what the EU customers like to drive, the type of cars they like."
Ontario's wine industry is also another he predicts could penetrate Europe if this agreement comes into effect.
"Your ice wine, for instance, in Ontario would easily find I think its way into the best restaurants in the European Union," Delcorde says. "By abolishing all these taxes and by opening up the borders, we are really giving incentives."
The agreement will be signed by the the European Union in October, but it's unclear if each member state will have to ratify it.
In the best case scenario, Delcorde predicts CETA would come into effect in 2017, worst case it could drag out as long as 2020.
