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NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY

THE HONOURABLE SERGIO MARCHI

MINISTER FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE

TO THE

ITALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF MANITOBA

WINNIPEG, Manitoba

October 30, 1998

(10:15 p.m. EST)

This document is also available on the Department's Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca

I would like to thank the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Manitoba for inviting me to this great launch.

Among many things, this new Chamber reminds those of us who trace our roots back to Italia, that our loyalty is not so much divided as it is shared with Canada: it is the best of both worlds -- the old and the new -- and I know that all of us value the rich inheritance that we have received.

Just as our ancestors reached across the Atlantic for new opportunities, so today, we must extend ourselves beyond our frontiers, to embrace the possibilities that await us. Not to uproot, as they did, but to invest. Not to begin new lives, but to explore new opportunities. Not to leave as emigrants, but to trade as partners.

For me, the establishment of your new Chamber means at least three things:

First, it declares in no uncertain terms that Italian-Canadians mean business.

As I thought about this new Chamber, I realized that it is the perfect symbol of the changes that have occurred since our ancestors landed on these shores.

It represents the new direction, set by a new generation of Italian-Canadian entrepreneurs, who are helping to promote the new face of the new Canada to the world.

In fact, I think the establishment of this Chamber says a lot about our place in Canada today.

Whereas in the past, we almost exclusively used to open social, cultural or regionally based associations -- which are needed and valuable to the life of our community -- today we are also establishing commercial organizations devoted to developing economic opportunities.

As a result, we are completing the circle for our community; we enrich it and we extend its reach. It also represents an act of leadership by our generation, in meeting the challenges of today, providing economic opportunities for our children and creating economic prosperity for our country.

What we are doing is building on our roots. We are building economic bridges to Canadian business circles, just as our forebears maintained the strong bonds of family and friendship. The two values are complementary -- culture and commerce -- and they come together perfectly in the family of Italian Chambers of Commerce across Canada, including, of course, the new kid on the block from Winnipeg.

And what is true of the Italian community is also true of our multicultural and multilingual society, which constitutes an enormous competitive advantage in tapping into other markets around the globe.

As we all know, Canadians have ties to every corner of the globe, and there are very few countries indeed that can look to Canada and not see their own reflection.

This provides an important edge over our competitors: people tend to trade with countries they feel comfortable with, in languages they speak and with cultures they understand.

Most countries simply don't have this advantage. So while we Canadians sometimes debate the value of multiculturalism, I strongly believe that we ignore this great asset at our peril, both domestically and internationally.

Second, in celebrating the opening of this new Chamber, we are also celebrating the importance of the Italy-Canada relationship.

And nowhere was that relationship more in evidence than during the Prime Minister's trade mission to Italy last May.

The interest in Italy was overwhelming, and we left Canada with great enthusiasm and high hopes. And we weren't disappointed!

During the mission we emphasized building our economic relationship. Both the Prime Minister and I stressed the importance of Canada as an investment destination, and the need to expand our bilateral trade.

To be sure, trade between our two countries is already substantial: in 1995, it totalled more than $5 billion. But that's barely one week's worth of trade between Canada and the United States. We know that we can be doing more -- much more -- and we set ourselves the goal of doubling trade between us within the next five years. That's ambitious, but I'm confident that we can achieve it.

And there's no better way to reach that goal than through people-to-people contacts -- getting Canadian and Italian entrepreneurs to learn more about each other, to talk to each other more and to explore avenues for co-operation and mutual benefit.

In that effort, this Chamber has an enormous role to play. As well, you can help us to engage the most dynamic component of our respective economies -- our small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs].

Italy's small and medium-sized companies are known worldwide for their key place in the Italian economy and for their export strategy. They are flexible, they move quickly to exploit new market opportunities, and many are concentrated geographically according to industry sectors so that they support each other through innovation and information. It is a model from which other countries, including Canada, can learn a

great deal. And these small and medium-sized companies account for 40 percent of Italy's exports.

Canadian SMEs are a very key component of our economy. They create most of the new jobs, and are fastest to move into evolving market niches for products and services. But only 10 percent of them are exporting.

Our collective challenge is to increase that number and to expand our trade culture to the point where Canadian businesses, large and small, seize the opportunities that await them abroad.

During our mission, which obviously should be part of your Chamber's new mission statement, we also wanted to reconnect Italy and Canada as modern-day partners of privilege.

This covers not only the economic side -- where Canada, the world's seventh-largest economy, is a gateway to the vast NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] market and Italy, the world's fifth-largest economy, is a key player in the European Union -- but also the political side -- through our common membership in the G-8, where we express views born of a common world view and based on similar positions as middle powers.

And, of course, our relationship encompasses the familial, people-to-people connections.

I can't emphasize this last point enough. One of Canada's key competitive advantages is sitting in this room. Canadians of Italian descent -- and there are one and a half million of us in Canada -- constitute a natural bridge between our two countries.

We offer a wealth of information and an experience for the Canadian market that can be shared with potential partners in Italy. Communication is much easier through the use of a common language and culture. In short, we know one another, we understand one another.

It's a perfect match, and we have to work hard to capitalize on this outstanding aspect of the Italy-Canada relationship -- this real sense of family.

But this will require that we present the new face of Canada to Italy. And this is where your Chamber can help tremendously.

As you well know, too many Italian business people still see Canada as a commodity-based economy. The reality, of course, is that only about 35 percent of our exports are commodities -- amounting to only 12 percent of our GDP.

So during the Prime Minister's mission, we aggressively made the case that when Italians think of Canada, they should be thinking high-tech. They should be thinking of a knowledge-based economy fired by information technology, fuelled by telecommunications and fortified by the third-largest aerospace industry in the world.

As dynamic business ambassadors, you can -- and must -- help in selling the new, improved version of the Canadian economy. The 1998 model, and not the romantic, fuzzy feel-good model of 1948.

Finally, this new Chamber symbolizes the importance of our growing ties to Europe.

Stronger economic bonds with Europe are vital to Canada. Next to the United States, it is our largest trading partner, and we have moved decisively in recent years to enhance that relationship. In 1996, we signed the Canada-EU Action Plan. We have also commenced free trade negotiations with the four member states of the European Free Trade Association [EFTA]. And if we are successful on these EFTA talks -- and I think we will be -- this will represent the first transatlantic free trade agreement.

Italy is at the forefront of developments in Europe, as a major player in the consolidation of the EU's internal market and as a member of the European Monetary Union. It is our hope that there will be greater efforts by all European governments to adjust trade and investment regulations in ways that will facilitate -- not frustrate -- new transatlantic ties with Canada.

In order to steer our trade talks in an effective manner, we have suggested that Europe combine its present three-pronged strategy, which involves separate negotiations with Canada, Mexico and the United States, into a single set of negotiations between the European Community and the NAFTA community.

It just makes more sense to have one superhighway for trade rather than three separate roads running between North America and Europe. Clearly, business leaders on both sides of the Atlantic want and deserve an integrated approach that will effectively facilitate two-way commercial traffic. As a new Chamber, your active support for this vision would be welcome and most helpful.

You know, we hear a lot about the contribution of immigrants to Canada. For some, that is something to be read about in textbooks or seen in movies. But for many of us, that history is recorded in our family scrapbooks, in our photo albums, in our life experiences.

As in the rest of Canada, the immigrant contribution to Winnipeg has been an insistence on excellence and a willingness to work for it. It has been about doing the best with the opportunities we were given, and working hard to create new opportunities, better opportunities, for our children.

Most of our parents or grandparents arrived here with little more than what they could carry. And you and I are proud inheritors of their legacy. Today we are relatively prosperous because many of them struggled through difficult yesterdays. Can we do any less for our children and grandchildren? Can we, who started with so much, do less than those who started with so little?

Of course not. And that's why we too need to go beyond our frontiers and open up new markets around the globe. That's why we need to expand trade with old friends such as Italy. And that's why we need to embrace the opportunities of freer trade -- in Europe and elsewhere.

Today, we are again called to build for the future. Today, your Chamber and our community are again called to continue the task of nation building; a task so ably commenced by our forefathers and mothers.

Let us take up the challenge together, and let us build for our children as our parents and grandparents built for us.

Thank you.