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SPEECHES
October 12, 2005
MOSCOW, Russia
2005/35
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY
THE HONOURABLE JIM PETERSON,
MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE,
AT THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE
CANADA-RUSSIA BUSINESS COUNCIL
It is an incredible pleasure to be here with you today. I have been struck by how much
Russia and Canada have in common. Our two great nations, which together span 18 of
the world’s 24 time zones, embrace the northernmost part of our planet, linking us in
the shared experience of bone-chilling winters... and the world’s best hockey.
And we in Canada are constantly made warm by the exquisite magic of your Bolshoi
and Kirov ballet companies, by the timelessness of your authors, and by the stirring
majesty of your great composers. I can tell you that Russian culture is deeply
embedded in Canada: not only in the more than 100,000 Canadians of Russian origin,
but in all of us.
The current exhibit on Catherine the Great, which is taking place at the Art Gallery of
Ontario, is on loan from the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. It is drawing record crowds,
and Canadians are indeed proud that one of our greatest Canadian artists,
Tom Thomson, was displayed very prominently at the Hermitage, and that the films of
Robert LePage and Denys Arcand have a solid following here in Russia.
Both of our countries are blessed with enormous natural resources. We are both
multiethnic federations facing the challenge of bringing together peoples over vast
distances: bringing them together by air, road, rail, phone, television, radio, the Internet,
and through policies of inclusiveness that create opportunities for all. We both believe in
a strong role for government in building better lives for our people, and we both seek to
create a better world through the G8, through the Global Partnership Program, through
the Kyoto Protocol, and through a reformed United Nations.
Since coming to power in the year 2000, President [Vladimir] Putin and his ministers,
including Minister [Alexei] Gordeyev and Minister [German] Gref, have brought about
stability in the Russian economy. The 2003 study by Goldman Sachs identified Russia
as one of the world’s future economic powerhouses, and in just four years, in nominal
U.S. dollar terms, the Russian economy has doubled.
Canada’s commercial links with Russia are small, but they’re growing. Last year was a
record year. Our bilateral trade reached US$1.7 billion, with Russia enjoying a huge
surplus. Our bilateral investment totalled approximately US$1 billion, with three quarters
of that being Canadian investment in Russian mining.
We want to double our exports to Russia within three years. This year looks even more
promising. Our exports are up 50 percent, on track to exceed C$600 million. Export
Development Canada, our official export credit agency, is expanding its activities here.
Canadian companies see great new opportunities in Russia: in industrial development,
transportation, energy, mining and metals, agriculture and agri-food, housing,
information and communications technologies, and education. The biggest blockbuster
in our commercial partnership came from the announcement last year during Prime
Minister Paul Martin’s visit to the Gazprom/Petro-Canada gas liquefaction project near
St. Petersburg. Liquid natural gas will be shipped from there to Quebec, and then piped
throughout Canada and the United States. The total investment could be US$1.3 billion.
As Minister of International Trade, I want to see even more investment in Russia, and
this is why we are anxiously awaiting Russia’s new law on underground resources. We
seek clarification on access to mineral issues to bring certainty to investors. We very
much welcome Russia’s plans to increase the efficiency of government administration
and to improve predictability and transparency in the legal system.
Unfortunately, the troubling experience of some investors—in particular Canadian
hoteliers such as Aerostar and Vlad Motor Inn—generates unfavourable impressions
when Canadians hear about legal manipulation, unnecessary inspections, harassment
and evictions. I sincerely hope that the challenges faced by Canadian investors can be
speedily and amicably resolved, and that the example of new Canadian investments in
Russia will serve to dispel doubts and encourage even greater commercial engagement
between our two countries.
We have an obligation to make sure that success stories of Canadian companies that
have invested in or traded with Russia are “front and centre,” and I can assure you that
we will.
I’m here to promote trade and investment. As a small nation of only 32 million people,
Canada’s prosperity depends on its commercial partnerships with the rest of the world.
We seek a rules-based international trade regime—we have one under the North
American Free Trade Agreement, through which we enjoy the greatest trading
relationship the world has ever known: more than C$1.8 billion in commerce every day.
And in spite of headline-grabbing issues such as softwood lumber, fully 96 percent of
that trade relationship is dispute-free.
Because of our experience with NAFTA, we believe that the World Trade Organization
can play a key role in global trade liberalization. It is the only platform that can rein in
the extreme levels of agricultural subsidies in the European Union and the United
States, create a level playing field for Canadian, Russian and other agricultural
producers, and open up world international commerce to developing and transitional
countries.
Canada very much wants Russia to be a member of the WTO, and has been strongly
supportive of Russian accession. We have provided some C$10 million in the last 10
years in trade-related technical assistance for the training of Russian officials. In the
past seven years we have had to address issues with our Russian colleagues on 25
occasions. Meetings were held this week here in Moscow on Monday and Tuesday.
There will be further meetings on Thursday. And I will be meeting later with Minister
Gordeyev and with Minister Gref to discuss WTO issues. We are going to carry forward
our work on the bilateral market access agreement. Understandably, what Canada
seeks is market access and trade liberalization. We want to apply to Russia the same
terms and conditions that apply to other leading economic powers, and I will do
everything possible, I assure you, to help with Russian accession at the earliest
possible moment.
When Prime Minister Martin and President Putin met a year ago in Moscow, they
agreed to form the Canada-Russia Business Council. Our two governments will work
very closely on building our commercial relations through the Canada-Russia
Intergovernmental Economic Commission, and Minister Gordeyev, I expect that the IEC
will hold its next meeting sometime in the first half of next year. It is only through direct,
private-sector contacts that we can identify and pursue business opportunities. Today, I
am pleased to say, is the inaugural meeting of the Canada-Russia Business Council.
We welcome and support the efforts of the Business Council. It is a result of, and a
credit to, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) whose
President, Alexander Shokhin, has a very distinguished background in public life as a
minister and as a deputy prime minister. He will help us a great deal in making contacts
here with RSPP’s members. I’m very pleased that Don Whalen, Chairman of the
Canada-Eurasia-Russia Business Association (CERBA), is working on this on behalf of
Canadians.
As a practical measure, as you know, four working groups have been formed: one in
information and communications technology, one in energy, one in transportation and
aerospace, and one in mining and metals. The Canadian chairs of these working
groups—Nortel, Petro-Canada, Bombardier and Barrick—are great Canadian
companies, great multinational companies, and known around the world. They’re
among Canada’s corporate leaders. They have the confidence and backing of the
Canadian government, as do all of the other Canadian businesses participating here
today and through this Council. This includes the many more Canadian entrepreneurs
and business people whom we hope to bring to this great country.
In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, let me say to you—Minister Gordeyev,
Alexander Shokhin, and all of our Russian friends—for me as Minister of International
Trade and for the Government of Canada, Russia is indeed a priority. We want to be
part of your great future, we want to be your partner in getting there, and we want to be
your partner of choice. And so I say, let us work together. And together, let us expand
and intensify our bonds in trade, investment, culture and friendship. Let us resolve that
together we will build a better future—a better future for the people of Russia and a
better future for the people of Canada. There is so much that we can achieve together.
Thank you.
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