Germany’s Merkel visits Canada wednesday

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to travel to Canada on Wednesday with trade issues one of the top items of the agenda of her talks with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, officials said in Berlin Tuesday, on the eve of her visit. In particular, Germany hopes that Merkel’s talks in Ottawa will represent the final big push to complete a free trade agreement with the European Union, dpa reported. With this in mind Merkel will be looking for several improvements in the Canadian position, notably in the area of intellectual property rights, public procurement policy as well as the services area, her officials said. But inevitably with the euro debt crisis still a major concern of both governments and financial markets around the world, Europe’s financial upheaval is also likely to play a key role in the talks along with the situation in Syria and Iran, officials said.