Brussels, Dhu-AlHijjah 23, 1437, Sep 24, 2016, SPA -- The European Union and Canada will draft a legally binding declaration in a bid to settle concerns over their free trade deal, amid hopes that it can partially come into effect next year, dpa reported. "It is a modern trade agreement with a country which shares our values and it's also important from the economic and strategic viewpoint," Slovak Economy Minister Peter Ziga said after chairing talks by EU trade ministers in Bratislava. "The EU's credibility is at stake here as a negotiating partner, as is our trade policy," he added. But the chairwoman of a non-profit citizens' advocacy group that has campaigned against the free trade deal dismissed the declaration as "smoke and mirrors." "The only way anything can be legally binding is if they reopen the treaty itself and make the changes there," Maude Barlow, chairwoman of the Council of Canadians, told dpa in Montreal. "A declaration outside of CETA is meaningless and meant to assuage the growing concerns about this deal." The discussion around the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) has grown increasingly politicized as it became swept up in the debate about a larger EU deal currently in negotiation with the United States. Last week, an estimated 320,000 rallied across Germany to protest the two deals. But EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom argued on Friday that in a "vast majority" of the bloc's member states, there is "general support" for both the trade deals with Canada and the US. -- SPA 03:24 LOCAL TIME 00:24 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w