Why Trade Matters
Trade and the Canadian Economy
The Free Trade Area of the Americas: Strengthening Hemispheric Relations
Stories of the Week - June 30, 2003:
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is a project that came into being at the first Summit of the Americas held in Miami in 1994. Thirty-four democratic countries rallied around a common goal and agreed to begin talks aimed at creating a free trade area. This area comprises more than 830 million inhabitants, representing one seventh of the world‘s population, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of approximately $19.7 trillion.
The proposed FTAA is an integral component of the larger Summit of the Americas' process. The FTAA supports Summit objectives, such as strengthening democracy, promoting human rights, and finding ways to address a range of social and economic issues through hemispheric cooperation.
With negotiations scheduled to conclude by January 2005, the FTAA will build on Canada's existing free trade ties with the United States, Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica, and our expanding links elsewhere in the hemisphere, allowing Canada to take full advantage of emerging hemispheric markets.
The FTAA offers many benefits to Canada: improved access to markets through a reduction of tariffs applied to Canadian firms; the elimination of farm export subsidies; enhanced protection for Canadian investments; and the creation of new business opportunities for our services sector.
The advantages of the FTAA go beyond strictly economic benefits for Canada and the other countries of the hemisphere. Stronger relationships among the countries in the hemisphere can carry over to greater cooperation in other areas, such as the promotion and preservation of democracy.
In addition, the FTAA represents a historic opportunity to link economic growth to social development throughout the Americas.
This edition of Stories of the Week features Canadian firms that are doing business with other countries in the hemisphere.
Stories of the Week - June 30, 2003
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Brazilian Malls Designed with Canadian Flair
Designcorp Ltd., Toronto, Ontario
Toronto-based Designcorp Ltd. has found its niche in Brazil. In fact, more than half of the company's work is carried out in Rio de Janeiro, São Paolo and other Brazilian cities, where partners Jeremy McMullin and Hilda Kopff and their staff of 10 are providing Brazilians with bold new concepts in shopping centres.
Designcorp plans and designs the interiors and exteriors of shopping centres, specialty centres, and the retail component of mixed-use developments, entertainment complexes and cinemas. One of its latest projects is the 90,000-square-metre Villa Lobos shopping centre, situated on a swanky São Paolo avenue, which features three retail, entertainment and food court levels as well as three underground parking decks. In suburban Rio, Designcorp turned an abandoned textile factory into a 7,250-square-metre North American-style outlet mall called Nova America with anchor stores, a five-screen cinema, restaurants, food court and open air entertainment. The company also had a hand in renovating and expanding Brazil's second largest shopping centre, located in Recife.
When asked why local architects and interior designers—who travel extensively and track retail market trends—continue to hire the Canadian company, McMullin and Kopff explain that their experience makes the difference. "We have studied thousands of retail spaces all over the world: clients appreciate our expertise." Designcorp is also active in neighbouring Colombia, where a five-level shopping centre in Medellín, complete with cinemas, is scheduled for completion in September 2003.
Paving the Way for Sustainable Roads
Martec Recycling Corporation, Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver-based Martec Recycling Corporation, in collaboration with Trow Consulting Engineers Ltd. of Brampton, Ontario, is working on the rehabilitation of a 180-kilometre segment of the Pan-American Highway in Costa Rica. Stretching 25,800 kilometres from Alaska to Argentina, the Pan-American is the longest highway in the world. In Costa Rica, sections of the road are deteriorating, mainly due to age and damage caused by heavy precipitation.
To restore the pavement, Martec is using hot in-place recycling (HIR) technology and its AR2000 Super Recycler — a four-unit, 64-metre-long, diesel-fuelled train. The AR2000 uses heat to soften old asphalt, scoop it up, recycle it and lay it down again, all in a continuous, one-lane operation. "Essentially, it is an environmentally friendly, mobile asphalt plant," explains Bahman Kamran, Vice-President of Martec. "This method is virtually emission-free and can save up to 35 percent in cost and 50 percent in time." The Costa Rican HIR project — the largest of its kind ever undertaken — is slated for completion in November 2003.
Martec's success in Costa Rica in due in large part to the continuous support of the Trade Commissioner Service (TCS). "In 1997, we were invited to participate in a seminar on the construction sector that was organized by the Canadian Embassy in San José. Following this, TCS staff recommended our company to major Costa Rican construction entrepreneurs bidding on road projects," says Kamran. "We have consistently been able to rely on the help of trade commissioners in many countries."
With major projects under its belt worldwide, Martec is currently expanding into Asia and Europe.
Nova Scotian Know-how in Education Infrastructure
Oraco Consulting, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Oraco Consulting Inc. delivers education infrastructure projects to developing countries based on a public-private partnership model that has been customized from the company's experience in Nova Scotia. Oraco's first export market was Trinidad and Tobago, where it was commissioned in 1999 to design two secondary schools at Trincity, near Port of Spain. The recognition gained by this project garnered the company its second Caribbean project, this time in Barbados.
In 2001, Oraco was contracted by the Barbados Community College to prepare a master plan for upgrading and expanding the infrastructure of its Eyrie campus in Bridgetown. This project was subsequently extended to include three other campuses, all located within the greater Bridgetown area. The master plan for achieving a physical integration of all four campuses was completed in the spring of 2002, and Oraco is currently awaiting approval to begin the implementation phase.
In its initial efforts to enter the international education market, Oraco benefited from the Program for Export Market Development (PEMD), while on the ground the company established excellent working relationships with staff at the Canadian High Commission offices in Port of Spain and Bridgetown. "Trade officers have provided us with valuable insight and guidance in making local contacts and in raising the profile of Oraco's services to government and industry sectors," says Oraco's Vice-President, Nancy Langille.
Oraco Consulting maintains a core staff of six people and augments its capacity to deliver projects by building strategic alliances with related professionals. Approximately 80 percent of its work is destined, directly or indirectly, for the international marketplace—through either exporting its own services or assisting other Nova Scotia firms and institutions in developing new markets.
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