Opening
Doors to
the World

Canada's International
Market Access Priorities
1999

It has been a great year to be Canada's Minister for International Trade. Great because Canadian businesses, small and large, collectively exported over $367 billion in goods and services. That's a record high -- the 7th year in a row that Canadians have set a record for total exports. We want to continue building on these successes in the years ahead.

To do so, we will need to continue supporting and responding to the Canadian businesspeople who are out there discovering new markets. Their achievements in foreign markets create even more opportunities for our future economic prosperity. Their information on the barriers they encounter and their suggestions for overcoming them are absolutely vital. Their business acumen contributes directly to the Government's work to help develop international markets and ensure that they stay open for Canadians.

This is the one common theme in what Canadians tell us: market access. Canadians can compete and win against the world's best if they are able to operate on equal terms of access. In Opening Doors to the World: Canada's Market Access Priorities, 1999, we identify the areas where work remains to be done to provide Canadian exporters and investors with equal access, and we outline what the Government intends to do about it in 1999. Broadly speaking, we will continue to use the World Trade Organization (WTO) to seek new and more predictable access both to countries that are already members as well as to countries that are in the process of joining, such as Russia, Ukraine, China, Chinese Taipei and Saudi Arabia. We will pursue access through regional bodies, such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. We will also continue to improve access bilaterally with certain countries, like we did with Israel and Chile and we are currently doing with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries of Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. And of course, we must always keep an eye out for new opportunities to safeguard and improve access to our largest trading partner, the United States.

The Government can pursue market access through international business development initiatives and through negotiations. International business development is what our Trade Commissioners, located in every major Canadian city and over 100 offices abroad, do every day. They listen to Canadians who want to do business abroad, and offer guidance through the rough waters. They work with the Export Development Corporation (EDC) to provide first-class export financing and insurance, and they work with the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) for export contracting support when selling to foreign governments and international organizations. They stay abreast of the trade and investment policies of our trading partners and watch that these governments are playing by the rules of the game.

Consulting Canadians is crucial because international trade and investment is not something that happens "out there", to "other people"; it is about local jobs and economic growth. It is what happens when an automobile is assembled in Windsor, using steel produced in Hamilton, aluminum from Quebec, zinc from British Columbia, plastics from Ontario and electronics or computer components from across the country. Trade produces real jobs for real people. In fact, one in three Canadian jobs depends on trade. For these reasons, I strongly believe that as we prepare for new negotiations, Canadians must contribute to the process.

If you would like to learn even more about what the Government is doing to ensure that Canadians continue to succeed in international markets, I invite you to read the Government's International Business Development Plan (to be published in mid-April 1999) and the EDC and CCC Annual Reports for 1998. You may also wish to check the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's website at www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca where we will regularly post information on issues being negotiated.

Reducing barriers for Canadians abroad is a challenging job. I urge all Canadians to help us tackle this challenge by letting us know when you encounter a problem overseas. As the Prime Minister's highly successful Team Canada missions have shown, Canada works best when we work together. I look forward to working with you to ensure that we continue to succeed in the crucial area of international trade and investment.

Sergio Marchi

The Honourable Sergio Marchi
Minister for International Trade