Canada, EU free trade pact expected this year

(OTTAWA) - Canada and the European Union are on track to finalize a free trade pact within six months, Denmark's trade minister said Monday.

Now in its tenth round of negotiations in Brussels, a Canada-EU free trade agreement should be finalized "within half a year," Minister Pia Olsen Dyhr told a joint press conference with her Canadian counterpart Ed Fast.

"We're at the end game," she said, noting that negotiations are 75 percent completed and only a few key issues such as Canada's farm supply management system and rules of origin labeling still need to be hammered out.

Denmark is the current holder of the presidency of the Council of the European Union.