Representatives of the Commission's Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and of Canada's Employment and Social Development Department came together in Brussels for their first annual meeting under the newly created bilateral dialogue on employment, social affairs and decent work.

The dialogue is based on the EU-Canada Strategic Partnership Agreement, which entered into force earlier this year.

The first meeting in this format was dedicated to topics which are of high priority to both Canada and the EU: the future of work, the participation of women in the labour market and youth employment.

The bilateral dialogue complements multilateral work, notably in forums such as G20, G7, the OECD and the International Labour Organisation, where the EU and Canada take similar positions.

There was consensus among the Canadian and EU experts about the usefulness of opportunities to share knowledge offered by the new bilateral dialogue. Both partners agreed to gradually expand and deepen their dialogue in the years to come.