Jakarta, Sept. 25 -- Indonesia and Canada signed a landmark trade pact on Wednesday, giving Indonesian products broad preferential access to the Canadian market in the first such agreement between the two countries.

Trade Minister Budi Santoso said the Indonesia-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ICA-CEPA) marked Indonesia's first comprehensive trade deal with a North American country and Canada's first with a Southeast Asian nation.

"ICA-CEPA ushers in a new chapter in our economic ties. It opens wider market access and strengthens the competitiveness of Indonesian products and services in Canada," Budi said in Jakarta on Thursday.

The deal was signed in Ottawa with Canada's Minister of International Trade Maninder S...