The two prime ministers will meet next Thursday. Source: PA images

TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY is to travel to Canada next week for a three-day visit where he will meet his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau.

Kenny will be in Canada from 3-5 May and will meet Trudeau in the city of Montréal next Thursday.

The office of the Canadian prime minister confirmed the visit yesterday and said that the pair would discuss areas of common interest including the CETA trade agreement between the EU and Canada.

“Ireland is a close friend, and I look forward to meeting with Taoiseach Kenny to further deepen this relationship,” Trudeau said in a statement.

Our two countries enjoy strong family ties, a shared history, and a common purpose. Now, we are collaborating again to ensure that CETA creates good, well-paying middle-class jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.

An Taoiseach’s schedule for the Canadian trip sees him meet with Trudeau on the morning of 4 May before he attends a lunch with the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.

That evening he will travel to Toronto where he will be a guest at a dinner hosted by Enterprise Ireland.

The following day the Taoiseach will stay in Toronto and will attend business and tourism functions before an evening dinner hosted by the Ireland Fund.

The Canadian prime minister’s office notes that the Irish-Canadian community is one of the country’s largest ethnic groups in the country with more than 4.5 million Canadians claiming Irish ancestry.

Merchandise trade between the two nations was €1.62 billion last year with Canadian foreign direct investment in Ireland estimated at €9.43 billion in 2015.

In that same year, Irish FDI in Canada was estimated at €4.24 billion.

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