Merkel confident EU will conclude free trade deal with Canada

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday she was confident that the European Union would complete its Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada.

"(Being an) open society also means being open for global trade .. we have made good progress on CETA now and in the European context you can expect that we will get the signing and ratification," Merkel told an industry event in Berlin.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber and Joseph Nasr; Writing by Madeline Chambers)