Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s plane has returned to Ottawa shortly after taking off because of mechanical issues.
A spokeswoman for Trudeau said late Saturday the plane landed without incident and they will be departing for Europe again as soon as possible. Trudeau is heading to Belgium where he is to sign a free trade agreement with the EU.
Canadian news channel CBC later tweeted that the prime minister had departed again.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's plane has taken off again. PM is off to Brussels to sign CETA in the morning.
— CBC News Alerts (@CBCAlerts) October 30, 2016
Trudeau had agreed at the last minute to fly to Brussels to ink the landmark CETA pact, which was seven years in the making, at a summit with European Union president Donald Tusk and European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.
The ceremony was originally meant to take place on Thursday but was delayed after Belgium’s French-speaking region of Wallonia, with just 3.6 million people, refused to agree to the terms of a deal affecting more than 500 million Europeans, along with Canada.
Wallonia resisted huge pressure from all sides until it won concessions - for regional farming interests and guarantees that international investors will not be able to force governments to change laws – allowing Belgium to sign the deal late Friday, enabling Tusk and Trudeau to set a new date.
The summit was due begin at 0830 GMT with the signing due at 1000 GMT, but it is not known if the problem with Trudeau’s plane will push the meeting further back.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
