* Trade should rise by 20 pct in 5 yrs after deal enforced
* Trade with China to double by 2015
By Marja Novak
LJUBLJANA, July 19 (Reuters) - Canada expects trade with European Union to rise by some 20 percent in the five years after a trade deal between Canada and the EU is enforced, Canada's trade minister said on Monday.
Canada is negotiating the free trade deal with the EU, which should ease trade and create new business opportunities. The deal is expected to be finalised in 2011, Peter Van Loan said during a visit to Slovenia as part of a European tour.
He told Reuters trade growth should be particularly high with new EU members, where there has so far been little bilateral business.
"I want to highlight ... that there is indeed a part of Europe where there has been high economic growth over the past 10 to 15 years and ... that there are opportunities here," Van Loan said.
"A study projected a 20 percent increase in trade ... simply as a consequence of the agreement."
He said he expected countries that joined the EU since 2004 would grow quickly despite a slowdown caused by the global financial and economic crisis.
But said the possibility of a global double-dip recession remained "a great concern", noting governments had already taken action to avoid it by reforming banking, resisting protectionism, carrying on fiscal stimulus and managing sovereign debt.
"But we have to continue to stay focused, there has to be more than just promises made, governments have to carry through on those commitments," Van Loan added.
European Union is Canada's second biggest trading partner, accounting for some 15 percent of Canada's overall trade. Total trade between the two partners reached about 50 billion euros in 2008.
Van Loan said that Canada, which wants to diversify its foreign trade, also "quite realistically" expected that its trade with China would double to some $60 billion by 2015, and the trade balance should also improve by then.
China is Canada's third largest trading partner but Canada imports four times more from China than it exports there.
Despite of the planned trade diversification, the United States will remain Canada's main trading partner, although the percentage of exports to the United States will decline from some 70 percent of Canada's total exports at present, Van Loan said. (Reporting by Marja Novak; Editing by Alison Williams)