I cannot think of a more important group to speak to on this my first visit to Japan as Minister for International Trade. If trade and investment are to continue growing between our two countries, if Japan and Canada are to work together to break down trade barriers around the world, you are the people to make it happen.

It is your advice and actions as business leaders and senior government officials that will get results.

What results am I talking about? I'm talking about building momentum behind trade liberalization and international rule making so that there will be more business opportunities for you and others like you. I'm talking about increasing trade and investment between Canada and Japan.

I'm talking about Japanese-Canadian partnerships in third countries as well. In essence, I'm talking about clearing away the underbrush of needless regulations and barriers so that businesses can grow and create jobs.

We can do all this because of the deepening partnership between our two countries. The statistics help to tell part of the story.

Bilateral trade surpassed $24 billion in 1995. Canada's exports to Japan increased by 24 per cent last year alone to bring bilateral trade almost into balance.

But the other part of the story is that these increased sales are taking place across a broad range of industry sectors.

Canada continues to be an important supplier to Japan of canola and wheat, wood pulp and lumber, and coal and aluminum. But we are also fast becoming significant exporters of telecommunications equipment, executive jets and helicopters. And last year Japanese clients purchased over $100 million worth of Canadian software.

Tourism is booming, with more than 670 000 Japanese visiting Canada last year, an increase of 18 per cent. While Vancouver, Banff, Niagara Falls, and PEI continue to draw larger numbers, Japanese tourists are also now visiting such new destinations as Quebec City, Newfoundland to watch whales, and the Northwest Territories to see the northern lights.

The most significant gain, however, has been in building products and prefabricated housing, with sales well over $130 million in 1995. That's double the record set in 1994, and we fully expect exports to double again in 1996.

An illustration of what is going on is Selco's Canadian Place, a housing development I opened yesterday in Sendai.

This 59-unit development was built with prefabricated housing from Canada and shows how successful Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises are in Japan -- and suggests that they will be even more successful in the future. Canada is now Japan's largest supplier of prefabricated housing.

And direct Japanese investment in Canada continues to climb.

A good example is the automotive sector, where both Toyota and Honda have announced plans to double production in Canada over the next few years.

While we are doing well, both the Japanese and Canadian governments recognize that we can go much further.

So let me turn to what I believe could form a "co-operative agenda for action" -- an agenda that involves co-operation between our two countries at the bilateral, regional, and global levels.

Our immediate objective is to harness our resources to expand awareness of the immense business opportunities offered by our bilateral relationship.

We have recently revised Canada's Action Plan for Japan, which is a framework for targeted business development activities in seven growing sectors: housing and building products; fish and seafood products; processed foods; consumer products; health care; tourism; and information technologies. We will continue to work with JETRO [the Japan External Trade Organization] and other Japanese agencies to carry out the objectives of the Action Plan.

A second leg of this agenda is the need to eliminate obstacles within our domestic economies to increase the competitiveness of our firms.

Based on our own experience, regulatory reform is important in increasing productivity and encouraging economic expansion. We have made considerable progress at home but we have more to do.

Regulatory reform in Japan -- or deregulation as it is called here -- will benefit both Japanese and Canadian companies by increasing demand and cutting costs. I urge the Japanese government and industry to press ahead with further reform.

Governments should eliminate regulatory restrictions on market access and price competition that cannot be justified on the basis of economic efficiency -- or that serve no legitimate health or safety purpose.

Deregulation also touches on the third item on my agenda -- investment. Canada is committed to offering Japanese investors an investment climate that is second to none.

For that reason, we have worked hard to reduce our fiscal deficit, improve regulatory efficiency, promote privatization, reduce the costs of regulatory compliance for business, eliminate internal barriers to trade and make the most of export opportunities under the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA].

We believe that this improved climate for business will not only encourage foreign investment but will also bolster domestic investment levels as companies gear up to meet the challenges of supplying overseas markets like Japan's.

Fourth, our efforts in reforming regulation and improving the investment climate should be applied to specific sectors of common concern, such as housing.

Canada has taken a particular interest in deregulation in this sector because of the clear and immediate benefits both to consumers and to domestic and foreign suppliers.

Canada welcomes the Government of Japan's commitment to reduce housing costs in Japan by promoting further reform and liberalization.

We hope that the process will gain new momentum and will deal with all barriers, including standards, fire codes and building product tariffs. We would also benefit by extending this co-operation into related areas in this sector, such as forest management.

My fifth point is that, in promoting greater co-operation between Canadian and Japanese business, we should not overlook valuable opportunities for joint partnerships in major projects in third countries, particularly in the Asia Pacific. Tomorrow I will be leading a round table of Canadian business leaders and trade officials from throughout the Asia Pacific region to explore this and other issues further.

I expect this type of collaboration will become increasingly common in coming years in our globalized business world.

The sixth component of this agenda is for us to continue our co-operation at the regional level -- especially our long-term goal of free and open trade and investment in APEC [Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum] by the years 2010 for developed economies and 2020 for developing economies.

APEC is also an important forum for tackling a range of issues of mutual concern, such as sustainable development and the environment. I hope this co-operation will deepen further as we move towards 1997 when Canada assumes the APEC Chair.

We are already planning a wide range of activities for 1997 aimed at promoting awareness of the many opportunities in Asia for Canadian companies -- particularly for small and medium-sized companies. We will name 1997 the Year of Asia Pacific in Canada to draw attention to this fact.

The last and perhaps most important objective of this Canada-Japan action plan is to deepen our bilateral co-operation on the global stage.

We think alike in many areas. As members of the G-7, the Quad, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and APEC, Canada and Japan share a mutual interest in the further development of the rules-based global trading system.

In this regard, there is scope for closer co-operation in the World Trade Organization -- the WTO.

The Quadrilateral Trade Ministers' Meeting in Kobe -- or the Quad as it is commonly known -- sought to promote this type of co-operation as we prepare for the WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore. Our challenge is to sustain the momentum of trade liberalization. We have already gone a long distance toward more open markets in the last few years.

The conclusion of the Uruguay Round and the creation of the WTO have given a tremendous boost to global trade and investment flows. But the WTO was in many ways just a beginning. Much work remains to be done. For example, we must continue to work toward the development of effective global rules on investment liberalization and protection.

We should also begin to discuss the complex issues related to trade and competition policy, trade and labour standards, and trade and the environment.

And we must work to ensure that important developing economies, including China and Russia, are successfully integrated into the world trading system. Indeed, it isn't truly a "world" trading system until these two important economies are part of it.

I believe that Canada and Japan can lead by example in setting the pace for a successful WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore. I am convinced that the Government of Japan feels the same way.

We can act now on these agenda items. We have already taken steps along these paths. What we need to do is to carry through on what we have started.

In doing that, you have a key role to play. You have an interest in concrete results. So do we. Let's work together.

Thank you.

2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998 - 1997 - 1996

Print friendly version - Printing Tips



Last Updated: 2006-10-30	Top of Page	Important Notices